Naruto: Twilight Chronicles
by Deus Namikaze
Summary: "I am the one who will establish peace and order..." A promise made by the Rikudō Sennin, but unfufilled. Knowing his life was drawing to an end, he passes on his Will onto his chosen successor.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

A solitary form entered a large, roofless, circular room. The room was devoid of any furniture, save two large candle holders with unlit candles placed on top of it.

The figure, a male by the looks of it, continued his trek, before stopping in between the two candle holders. With a flare of his chakra, the candles became ignited, illuminating the room along with the stars of the night sky.

The man felt the wind pass over his aged features, and rustling his white cloak along with his white spiky hair, with two distinct spikes at the front that stuck up that resembled horns. He stroked his long goatee with his left hand absentmindly as he allowed the breeze to wash over him.

He raised his right hand, which contained his trusty shakujō that had aided him in many battles, and abruptly bought in back down to the ground. Chakra flowed out from the staff into the ground and spread out. Four circles of kanji formed from the chakra, the first being around the two candle holders. There was a space of about five meters between each circle. In the space between the first and second circles were six triangles that surrounded the first, along with six magatama seals. Between the third and fourth circles were also six magatama seals that surrounded the space.

The man brought up his left hand so that it was level with his chest. His index and middle fingers pointed straight up at the night sky, while the rest remained in an impromptu fist. This was recognised as the half ram seal among his followers, the followers of Ninshū. The full ram seal was created in order to assist people when they wanted to gather their chakra, while the half ram seal was used to expel chakra in bursts.

He began to build up his chakra, moulding it in a way that only those who wielded his eyes could. What he was about to do would speed up his already imminent departure, but it was for the sake of the world. If he couldn't at least do this, then his label as the Kono Yo no Kyūseishu was a sham, since after his death, the Jūbi would be free to roam the earth and wreck havoc once again. Only this time, it would make sure that humanity was wiped out.

"Daiō Fūin **(King's Seal)**, kai!" the man muttered.

His body became surrounded by azure blue chakra as he began to levitate off the ground. He focused on the chakra that was sealed within his being, drawing it out. The circle in the room glowed a pale blue as it assisted the process. The chakra left his body at a rapid pace as if it was determined to be free once again.

Once the chakra had fully exited, it formed into physical matter, back into its body and the circle stopped its function, returning back to its original black. The physical matter formed into an entity that had the upper-body physique of a human complete with opposite thumbs on clawed hands, but the lower body was like that of a fox. Ten tails swished up and down behind it, which would have no doubtedly destroyed the walls of the room if it weren't for the reinforcement seals on it. Malevolent chakra leaked out of the being, but unable to spread further than the room. A single eye on a domed head opened, revealing four concentric circles on a purplish-grey eye that levelled its gaze on the man before it. The Jūbi had returned.

**"Kukuku,"** its deep, gravelly voice boomed. **"You fool Haō-kun, now that I'm released, what's stopping me from destroying you where you stand?"**

Haō gazed at the beast with something akin to pity. It lived to destroy, nothing else. Nothing should have to live like that, and it was a shame he had been unable to tame the beast in all his years as a Jinchūriki.

"Haven't you noticed it yet, Jūbi?" Haō asked.

The Jūbi narrowed its eye at the puny human before it. He wondered what he was missing, before it hit it harder than one of the numerous Shinra Tensei's **(Almighty Push) **it had endured.

**"My Saimingan! What have you done?"** it roared.

"Your Saimingan has been inherited by my son, Kaima. He was supposed to be the successor of my Rinnegan, but your Mirāgan influenced it," Haō explained.

The Jūbi snarled at the man. This man had caused him so many problems in life. First, the human defeated it, putting an end to its reign of terror. Then the human had the audacity to imprison a mighty being like itself into its pathetic little shell. And now the human's offspring decided to steal its Saimingan? This calls for retribution.

The Jūbi raised all of its tails so that the tips were arranged in a circle, and then raised its head. Small orbs of positive black chakra and negative white chakra began to gather into a ball. The ball was formed and started its descent into the Jūbi's open mouth before it was halted by a sword of blue lightning that struck through it. The ball began to crack before exploding into pieces of chakra.

The Jūbi snapped its head towards its former jailor with fury evident in its face. Haō dispersed the sword of lightning, but kept his left hand raised at the Jūbi. Chakra chains erupted from the ground around the Jūbi, binding the beast and preventing it from making any further movement.

"Even though you have lost your Saimingan, your power is still too great, it would be a foolish act to let you to continue to roam on this earth," Haō said with a firm tone. "That is why I have taken precautionary measures for when a situation like this arose."

For the first time in its life, the Jūbi felt fear. Not even when he was defeated by the human did it once fear what the human could do. But now, for some reason, it actually feared for its existence.

Haō turned his left palm towards the Jūbi and muttered a single command.

"Onmyōton: Banbutsu Sōzō **(Yin-Yang Release: Creation of All Things)**."

The Jūbi began to feel its chakra spltting up into separate parts, causing it to feel great pain. It let out an unearthly roar that shook the very ground itself.

**"NEVER!"** it screamed. **"MY EXISTENCE SHALL NEVER BE DENIED, LEAST OF ALL BY THE LIKES OF YOU! RIKUDŌ SENNIN… YOU HAVE ANGERED ME RIKUDŌŌŌ!"**

The Jūbi flailed and thrashed about, struggling to break free from its bindings.

"You still have so much power left," Haō said with a sense of nostalgia, repeating the same words he said to the beast when he first sealed it. "I still believe you really are amazing… Tobi."

Tobi stopped its struggling and diverted its attention to the Rikudō Sennin. How did he find out its name?

Due to the lack of interference, the chakra splitting process sped up, creating nine orbs of chakra that floated to nine different spots on the third circle. The orb right in front of Haō was the biggest, with the one to the left of it being half its size and so on.

Haō thought up nine animals, a tanuki, a neko, a kyodaigame, a monkey, a dolphin-headed horse, a slug, a kabutomushi, an ushi-oni and a kitsune.

The tanuki was based on a small wounded racoon Haō found in the deserts of the land. He would be gifted with the manipulation of wind. If he were ever to be sealed into another human, its Jinchūriki would receive the ability to manipulate sand.

The neko was based on a small stray cat that attacked Haō in the mountain regions. She was later befriended by the man. Neko would receive fire manipulation. Her flames would be able to rival that of Haō's own fire technique, Amaterasu. Her Jinchūriki would also receive fire manipulation.

The kyodaigame was based on a small turtle Haō accidently fished out of the Great Sea. He would receive water manipulation, as would his Jinchūriki.

The monkey that came to his mind reminded Haō of a red monkey that followed his younger brother everywhere during their youth. The monkey would be gifted with lava manipulation; something his Jinchūriki would also inherit.

After the defeat of Tobi, one of the many grateful settlers gave him a unique animal. It was a foal with a head that was shaped like a dolphin. The dolphin-horse would be given swiftness that would be unmatched by the others.

The slug was one of the many animals that Haō admired due to its unique characteristics. He would be able to produce corrosive alkali and gas.

There was a place in the land that had a tree, whose size was unrivalled by any other. It grew higher and wider than anybody could ever imagine, and Haō assumed that if it continued growing at that rate, it would easily dwarf Tobi in the coming years. The tree was the home to many kabutomushi's, which was the reason why Haō chose it as a form for one of the new creatures. She would be the sole one that would be gifted with flight.

The ushi-oni was chosen as homage to the many tales the head priest at the temple told him about the mountain region. He managed to get a small glimpse of one during his journey to the regions.

Finally, the kitsune. The kitsune was the first gift Haō remembered that he had received. He had named the kitsune, Kurama and had been distraught when it died. Kurama would be known as the Kyūbi, signifying its status as the most powerful of the Bijū. Kurama would also have the ability to sense emotions and read the hearts of others, something that his Jinchūriki would gain if they ever asserted full control over him.

Each of the orbs of chakra settled into the forms that Haō desired, along with different number tails that showed their power status. Each of them gave him their rapt attention.

Haō's Rinnegan eyes stared into Kurama's red, feeling a wave of nostalgia wash over him. He had lost count of how many years ago it had been since the other Kurama had passed away.

"I won't be here much longer," he began, as he slowly turned so he could study his handiwork. "Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Gokū, Kokuō, Saiken, Chōmei, Gyūki, Kurama; you will always be together, even if you are separated. And one day, you will all become one; with different names… in different forms than you exist now. And unlike when you were within me, you will be led down the right path. When the time comes… for you to know what true power is… my heir will rise up, overcoming all the odds that will be stacked up against him and lead you and this world from the twilight, into the everlasting light of peace."

Kurama felt tears sprouting up in his eyes, as he struggled to maintain his stability. Haō sensed this and turned to face the kitsune cub.

"Kurama, why are you sad?" he asked, as he approached the cub.

Kurama sniffled and raised a paw to wipe his snout free of his tears. "O… otōsan," he said.

Haō's eyes widened, with shock written over his face, before it changed into a look of understanding. Raising his left hand, Kurama lowered his snout, allowing the Sennin to stroke his soft orange fur.

_I have given you a gift, Kurama; one that can only be opened by those of a pure heart. When that person opens this gift, your tears of sadness will be washed away by those of joy the_ Sennin told the cub through his heart, knowing that Kurama's ability would enable him to 'hear' his words.

Haō patted Kurama's nose, and turned his attention to the body of the Jūbi. If it fell into the wrong hands, problems will arise, yet another thing he would like to avoid. The Rikudō Sennin clapped his hands together, bringing it apart slowly to reveal a small black orb with a white glow. He released it, letting it drift over the body and into the sky, before it began to assert its control over gravity and taking many slabs of the earth into it, including the body. Before long, a large orb of earth was floating alone within the sky. Haō pointed his shakujō towards the rock, directing a concentrated beam of Shinra Tensei at it to launch it out of the sky and into the cosmos.

Haō lowered his staff and observed his handiwork along with the Bijū. He could feel deaths grip taking hold of his soul as he weakened rapidly. His breaths became shallower, as his vision blurry.

"Children," he called with a raspy voice, recapturing their attention. "Use your strength to aid those that you deem worthy. But never forget this. True strength does arise if you have power… no; rather…"

The Bijū watched as their otōsan taught them their only and last lesson. Haō's feet gave out under him and he lost his grip on his shakujō, causing him to fall to the ground on his back. His eyes shut as exhaustion took control

His long life flashed before his eyes. Receiving Kurama as a gift, playing with his otōto and Son, the monkey, discovering the use of his RInnegan, creating the Rikudō, leaving the temple to explore the world, helping out various families, creating Ninshū, defeating Tobi, marrying his wife Anna, witnessing the birth of Kaima and Naruto, watching them grow into young men with pride, Anna's funeral, naming Naruto as his successor and finally the creation of the Bijū.

The images of a young boy with blond hair in the same 'horned' style as his own played across his mind's eye, filling him up with hope and peace. Yes, this was the boy who will complete his lifelong dream.

_I'm coming soon Anna, it won't be long now_ he thought with a smile on his aged features.

Eventually his breaths came to an end. Sensing this, Kurama lowered his head to the ground and whimpered silently, and the remaining Bijū mourned in their own ways.

The Rikudō Sennin was dead.

**X.x.X.x.X**

The Forty-Fourth Training Ground, or commonly known among the Konoha Ninja populace as the Forest of Death, was a place anyone with commonsense would avoid if they could help it. This was mainly due to harbouring the fear of falling victim to a poisonous blade of grass that has not yet been named, or having the pleasure of being swallowed whole by one of the many rabid tigers that owned the place.

However, this was the only place you could go that would guarantee freedom from anybody and everybody. Well, when you're not trying to avoid death that is.

Which is why we could find a boy of about six sitting at the base of one of the many large oak trees in the forest. This place was his haven, and has been for the past couple of months. This place was his shelter from all of those stares and whispers behind his back, despite his status as the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

Namikaze Naruto was the first born son of his parents, so in turn he should be treated as the successor to a living legend right? For Naruto, that was not the case. Along with his twin sister Natsumi, he was the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko.

However, unlike his sister, Naruto was treated as if he were the Kyūbi itself, for the sole reason of having the 'wrong half' of the Kyūbi's chakra sealed into his being. According to Minato, Naruto contained the Yin chakra, the dark half, while Natsumi contained the Yang chakra, the light half. Since dark is commonly associated with evil and light with good, the villagers sense of paranoia kicked in, and I think you can connect the dots from there.

Now if receiving the cold shoulder from the villagers while his sister received their love wasn't bad enough for young Naruto, add his parents into the mix and that's where you get the problem.

Minato and Kushina outright refused to do anything that would benefit Naruto, unless it was necessary or if Natsumi could profit out of it as well. About a year ago, Minato thought the time was ripe to begin Natsumi's training. Naruto attempted to join the fray, but was quickly scolded by his mother for 'being a nuisance' and sent to bed early as punishment.

Naruto thought it was a onetime occurrence, but it happened time after time again. Whenever the twins' birthday came up, Natsumi received enough gifts to satisfy an entire orphanage for a good year. Naruto would only receive a couple, five being the most he had ever received in one occasion. Even then, the gifts weren't even that good. When Natsumi would receive a scroll on advanced chakra manipulation, Naruto would get a new, quieter alarm clock. If Natsumi got an ANBU ninja set, Naruto would get a small bandage roll. If someone visited the home, they would give Natsumi a bone crushing hug and smother her with affection, only greeting Naruto before the leave and that is only if Natsumi was around. Through his experiences, Naruto arrived at one very, very sad conclusion.

His parents and the rest of the Konoha populace hated him for something he had absolutely no control over.

Sure there was a few who actually appreciated his presence such as the Ichiraku's ,the Sarutobi family, and weirdly enough, Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin, but that still didn't change the fact that his parents would, if given the chance, allow Iwa to assassinate him in place of Minato.

The villagers came as a surprise to Naruto. If the Namikaze family took a stroll through Konoha, the people will all but kiss the feet of Minato, Kushina and Natsumi in worship. Naruto received smiles that didn't even come near the eyes of the smiler, hateful looks and mutterings of '_its_ incarnate'. Since Natsumi was treated like a hero for containing part of the Kyūbi's chakra, Naruto expected something similar, not the complete opposite. And to make matters worse, there were two spikes protruding at the front of his hair, giving it a resemblance to horns. Long rumour short, basically that was enough confirmation that Naruto was a demon for the villagers.

He had even heard a couple of the even more zealous believers insinuate that he wasn't actually the Yondaime's son, just an orphan they had pity on. What bought this on? Silver strands in the light blonde's hair. At first, Naruto's hair was the exact shade of his father, but then it slowly began to become much lighter into platinum blond. Not to say it is completely platinum blond, but the majority is, along with those silver strands. Natsumi for her part was an exact replica of their mother, flowing red hair and violet eyes, so no one could really say the same about her; not that they would anyway.

Naruto shifted his gaze to the soft blue sky, watching the birds fly across without a care in the world enviously. With a small sigh, the boy rose from his seated position and dusted off the back of his black shorts.

He took a step forward, but stopped from going any further by a small hissing sound that came from behind him. He stood frozen in fear, only hearing the hiss and the blood pounding through his ears. Slowly, Naruto turned around, coming face to snout with the largest snake he had ever seen. Its yellow eyes gleamed dangerously, daring him to do something stupid, while its red fork tongue waggled up and down as it tasted the air.

Now Naruto wasn't stupid or did he have a thing for danger. But the Forest of Death was the only place where he could find solitude from the rest of the world despite its dangers, not that it had ever bothered him before.

But now, this snake had another thing coming if it believed that it will chase him out of his spot.

Channelling his chakra to his legs and arms, Naruto leapt at the snake in a flash and delivered a heavy blow that cracked one of the brown scales on its snout. Naruto followed the blow with a roundhouse kick that caused the giant reptile to rear its head back in pain.

Now Naruto wasn't an idiot that Minato thought he was. No, if anything he had inherited Minato's genius along with his looks. Through observation, elimination and a few confirmations from Hiruzen-jisan, Naruto was able to deduce the mechanics behind Natsumi's advanced training, such as channelling chakra to enhance the limbs, the importance of chakra control and a few Taijutsu stances.

Naruto landed softly from his aerial assault, glaring at the snake which it countered with a glare full of rage. Naruto shivered slightly in fear at the sight of the reptilian beast.

"Well damn," he muttered as he watched crimson blood trickle down the snake's snout. "I overdid it, didn't I?"

As if to answer his rhetorical question, the snake roared, sending saliva everywhere. Naruto's face scrunched up at the gruesome sight but he soon turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could with chakra flooding his legs with the snake giving chase.

The snake lunged at its attacker every time the boy was in range, but he seemed to have some sort of premonition of danger, as he avoided every attack. Eventually, the snake had enough of the repetitive actions and burrowed into the ground.

Hearing no sign of his pursuer, Naruto slowed his run down to a stop and cautiously peered over his shoulder. Following a visual confirmation that the snake was no longer chasing him, Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief and stopped the chakra flow to his muscles. He found out that using chakra to enhance muscles without any formal training is very tiring. He gazed up at the sky to determine his location so that he could find his way out of the forest.

However, letting his guard proved to be a rookie, albeit a very costly, mistake.

Before he knew what was going on, Naruto found himself airborne, courtesy of his enraged snake friend as it shot out of the ground and rapidly approaching the trunk of a tree. His small back slammed into the trunk, knocking out any air from his lungs, while black spots clouded his vision.

The snake observed its handiwork with what would have been seen as a smirk if it were on the face of a human. Its yellow slit eyes watched its snack struggle to move from its place on the ground with ecstasy. The red trail of blood that fell down from the prey's forehead was an added bonus, retribution in other words.

The snake rose to its full height, purposefully giving off its commanding prescence to the snack, even though its movements had all but stopped and it seemed it has lost its life. Bearing the last thought in mind, the snake lunged at the human, intending to end it all in one fell swoop before its body lost its heat.

After all, who would choose a cold snack over a warm one?

**X.x.X.x.X**

Contrary to the snake's belief, Naruto was not dead, but he had indeed lost consciousness. He woke up to find himself in a large sewer-like tunnel with many pipes going across the wall and disappearing into the darkness. He looked around the environment, noticing how it seemed to have an orange glow to it, and wondering where he was. Deciding that where he was now is so much better than being on the receiving end of the frustrations of an irate snake, Naruto began heading down the tunnel to where the glow seemed to originate from.

As he journeyed, Naruto realised that the surroundings didn't seem to change from the sewer-pipelines to something else. Before long, the walls turned a corner so that now perpendicular to the previous arrangement.

As he entered the chamber, Naruto observed a large cage with intricate designs on wall that held the bars. The cage was held shut by a small slip of paper that had the kanji of 'seal' written on it. Before he knew what was happening, a wave of unrelenting killing intent washed over Naruto, causing him to fall onto his knees and double over as he tried to regain his breath.

But a warm sensation washed over him that originated from his eyes, and then something at the back of his mind told him to stand up and breathe, that there was no need to be afraid of one of 'his' creations. Naruto obeyed the voice, not finding it any hard to do so, regaining his footing and taking deep calming breaths, as he waited for whatever was behind the cage to reveal itself.

He didn't have to wait long, as two deep crimson slit eyes opened and levelled a glare at the intruder. The eyes were revealed to belong to a large orange fox that was bigger than the Hokage monument. Nine tails swished behind the creature menacingly but failed to affect Naruto.

**"You dare to intrude my territory, the territory that has been marked by the Greatest of the Bijū?"** the Kyūbi growled. Seeing that Naruto did not respond, the fox hit him with another wave of killing intent that yet again failed to affect the boy. **"You are not afraid?"**

Naruto stared at the fox impassively, but inwardly wondering why he was not afraid of the 'Greatest of the Bijū', whatever that was anyway. But any six year old boy would be releasing their bowels at the sight of the creature, which wasn't really saying something.

"Should I be," he began on instinct as if something else was controlling him. "Kurama?"

Kurama did a double take. How in the many realms of the universe had this human, a child no less, find out his name, the name that was bestowed onto him by his creator?

However, upon closer inspection, he noticed two tell-tale signs.

First was the hair, specifically the two spikes that stood above the others and the silver glow.

The second and most important observation was the eyes. Those ripple-like patterns over the eyeballs with a light purple iris and sclera had not been seen since his creation. Those eyes, greater than any eyes, especially the ones of those puny Uchiha, were the Rinnegan, wielded only by his creator. Those were the same eyes that looked at him with compassion when he was created, and so far, the only ones to do so.

"**Rikudō… Sennin?"** Kurama gasped with wide eyes as realisation washed over him. If he had returned, that meant…

"No," Naruto replied. "But I feel different… as if I know things I didn't know before."

Deciding to see if his suspicions were remotely correct, Kurama decided to test the boy.

"**What are the names of my kin?"** Kurama asked.

Naruto paused as he processed the question. Kurama's kin… what could be their names? Unknowingly though, new piece of information was made known to his sub consciousness.

"Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Gokū, Kokuō, Saiken, Chōmei and Gyūki… are those correct?" Naruto peered questionably at the fox trapped behind the bars.

Kurama watched the boy with his jaws agape as he had a nostalgia moment coupled with a flashback of a similar scene from centuries ago.

Naruto bought Kurama out of his reminiscence with a question. "Where am I?"

"**You don't know?"** Kurama raised a 'brow'. Receiving a shake of the head for an answer, Kurama sighed. "You're in your mindscape, which is also connected to the seal that holds me."

Naruto nodded. "How do I go back?" But he somehow already knew the answer.

Kurama, sensing this, smiled.

"**It's easy,"** the environment began to fade away for Naruto. **"Just will yourself to return."**

"Arigatō," Naruto responded before he faded away.

Kurama stared at the previously occupied spot for a small while before lying down with his arms underneath his head. He only had one thing on his mind though.

_**It's been too long… old man!**_

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto opened his now Rinnegan eyes to the sight of what would be his death if he didn't do anything. Acting on instinct, he quickly got up and raised his right palm to face the snake, uttering a small command.

"Shinra Tensei!"

**X.x.X.x.X**

Roaming across the lands in the sky for centuries, stopping only for food or rest, not that it needed it was Bahamut, the Dragon King.

He had taken to the skies to journey the lands his master had been unable to reach as soon as his death had been felt by the summon. Now it just observed mankind, trying to understand the species of the one that had tamed him.

As he rose higher into the clear blue sky, he felt a small tug on his chakra network, causing it to abruptly turn to the ground and land in one fell swoop. He searched his chakra system for the tell-tale sign, and seeing it was still there, allowed a small grin make its way onto his visage. He took to the sky, this time with a different destination in mind.

This could only mean one thing…

**X.x.X.x.X**

Roaming the forests of the lands was Kirin, the King of Beasts. His beauty was unmatched by any animal, and so was his power. Well excluding three others, his power was unmatched by any animal or beast alike. Along with this power came a vain streak that he possessed. Perhaps his only flaw, but if it weren't physical, then Kirin didn't care.

As Kirin gazed upon his reflection in a small stream, he felt a tug on his mind. With a small smile and a shake of his head, he began to return to his homeland.

Way to ruin his fun…

**X.x.X.x.X**

In the Phoenix Kingdom, the Queen Phoenix, Himoto or Himoto-sama to her subordinates, prided herself in the fact that she was fiercely loyal to her subordinates and they her. She also took pride in her status as the Ruler of the skies and there was only one other beast that could challenge her for the title, but he was far gone.

Feeling a small tug on her being, she wondered if her fellow summons had felt the same thing too…

**X.x.X.x.X**

Deep within the huge mountains of Myōboku, in the chambers of the head of the toads, even above Gamabunta, the Ōgama Sennin felt a faintly familiar tug on his soul, causing great happiness to come upon the toad.

It could only mean one thing.

The Yogen no Ko has been revealed and the Kono Yo no Kyūseisu has returned.

_**Glossary **_

Shakujō – a Buddhist ringed staff that is meant to be used in prayer, but can also be effectively deployed as a weapon.

Ninshū – the Shinobi Sect – the religion that gave birth to ninjutsu.

Kono Yo no Kyūseishu – Saviour of the World

Saimingan – Eye of Hypnotism – one of the two abilities of the Sharingan. The Saimingan allows the user to copy movements and recognise different forms of chakra and genjutsu.

Tanuki – Japanese Racoon Dog

Kyodaigame – Giant turtle

Kabutomushi – Japanese rhinoceros beetle

Ushi-oni – Ox oni- a creature in Japanese folkore

Kitsune – Fox

Chibaku Tensei – Planetary Devastation

Ōgama Sennin – Great Toad Sage

Yogen no Ko – Child of the Prophecy


	2. Chapter 2: The day we set off

**A/N**: Okay, I don't usually do this anymore, but I've got three important announcements. First, thanks for all the hits, favourites, alerts and reviews, I'm very grateful. Second, I'm gonna change Naruto's sister's name from Narumi to Natsumi, reason being, Natsumi sound more feminine in my opinion. Finally, I'm willing to listen to any pairing requests, no matter how unlikely you may think it'll be. _However_, I _**will**_ _**not**_ be doing any Yaoi in any shape or form and FemKyūbi isn't gonna happen.

**Chapter 2:** The day we set out

Minato studied the young boy that stood on the other side of his desk. His son had not really changed much from earlier on in the morning, with the exclusion of somehow gaining only the most powerful Dōjutsu in existence. Along with a couple of rips and dirt stains on his clothes, but that is beside the point!

Minato stared into Naruto's now rippled eyes, unconsciously feeling drawn in and being put into a state of relaxation. His breaths became deeper and slower as if he was asleep and his eyes began to lower. Minato fought for control, but he couldn't tear his gaze away from those eyes that had somehow bent him to the will of its possessor.

A chakra spike in the direction of the Uchiha district gave the Yondaime the strength to break out of his trance-like state. Running his hand over his face, Minato levelled a glare at his son, who was completely oblivious to his father's predicament.

When Minato felt a large surge of chakra coming from the Forest of Death some minutes earlier, he took off towards the training field fearing the worst and his ANBU following in his wake. What he did not expect to find was a medium sized crater about six metres deep and twelve wide, with Naruto standing in the middle of a gory mess of innards within it.

His first reaction was surprise and confusion at how Naruto had accomplished such a feat and thought that'll be the only surprise for a long while.

He would soon eat his thoughts.

Once Minato made eye contact with Naruto, his heart skipped a couple of beats, his breathing became erratic, sweat patches made themselves known, legs began to turn into jelly and he _swore_ he blacked out for a moment.

Grabbing his stray child, Minato quickly used the Hiraishin to return to his office before any of his ANBU could see the boy's eyes, which now brings us to his current dilemma.

Minato cleared his throat to gain Naruto's full attention. "So, do you want to explain to me what you were doing back there?"

Naruto licked his chapped lips. "I just wanted to relax."

"Relax?" Minato scoffed. "There're plenty more _unforbidden_ places in Konoha that you can relax in."

"Well," Naruto shifted nervously, lowering his gaze to his sandaled feet. "I guess Training ground Forty-four is just… different."

"So if you _were_ relaxing," Minato continued with sceptism evident in his voice. "Why is it that I felt a chakra surge, coming from your direction no less, and the landscape destroyed?"

Naruto met his otōsan's eyes once more and frowned ever so slightly.

"I was protecting myself from a snake that wanted to eat me."

Minato narrowed his gaze. Was that a hint of defiance in the child's voice? Maybe he needs to be put in his place.

"Then how did you destroy the surrounding area when, as far as I'm concerned, you have no jutsu's in your possession?"

"I don't know!" Naruto exclaimed. "I just blacked out one minute, woke up the next and then bam! I just nailed it with some type of force field jutsu."

The Yondaime had a slight cause for concern. If he blacked out with no knowledge for jutsu's, then woke up _with_ some, then…

"And your eyes?"

"What about 'em?"

"How did it change like that?" Minato asked, but his words were contrasting to his thoughts. _No the real question is __**why**__ does he have those eyes._

"Oh that," Naruto shrugged. "I guess it just changed while I was out of it."

"What d'you mean 'it just change while I was out of it'?" Minato sneered. "I asked you for an explanation!"

Minato's tone only spurred on Naruto. "How the hell am I meant to know? I'm not some Shinobi no Kami!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, Naruto was hit by a wave of memories that didn't even belong to him.

_**-Flashback-**_

"_You need to be strong Haō, I understand you're still mourning, but please everybody needs you, your sons need you. I'm sure if she were still with us; Anna-chan would give you an earful and ask what happened to the Shinobi no Kami everybody knows."_

_**-Present-**_

_What the hell was that?_

Before Naruto could ponder on his thoughts, Minato's sigh bought him back to the situation at hand.

"Alright then Naruto, if you want to play the ignorance game, we will," Minato said.

"I'm not lying!" Naruto protested, waving out his hands for an extra emphasis on his words.

"I don't want to hear it," Minato snapped. "I want you to go home and ponder on your mistakes. Once you have realised what you've done wrong, then I expect a full apology."

"But I di-!"

"I said I don't want to hear you excuses anymore," Minato swiftly cut his off his son. "Now leave."

With one last lingering gaze and a dejected sigh, Naruto left the office and Administrations building, making his way to the Namikaze compound.

Minato watched the door shut with a resounding thud, releasing the breath that he did not know he was holding. He then fell back into his chair, swivelling it round and watching the clouds go by through the window.

His two children will be starting the Academy next week and the new developments were not helping. Naruto, the village's scapegoat, gaining the Rinnegan was as troublesome as trying to protect Jiraiya from castration by Tsunade whenever he makes a leer at her. Now he wasn't sure how the teachers will handle him.

Minato frowned in thought. Jiraiya once said that the wielder of the legendary Rinnegan would show up during times of disorder. They will either become a 'God of Creation' who will calm the world, or a 'Destroyer' who will reduce everything into nothingness.

Naruto was obviously not the 'God of Creation' nor the Yogen no Ko, that was Natsumi, which left only the path of the 'Destroyer' open for him.

Minato knew what he could do, and one of the options open to him must come forth.

Swivelling his chair back to face the desk, the Yondaime withdrew a blank scroll from his desk.

It seemed Jiraiya had to return earlier than expected.

**X.x.X.x.X**

"Okay class welcome to the Academy, my name is Umino Iruka and I shall be your instructor for the next five years; unless of course, you graduate early," Iruka introduced himself to his new class with a warm smile. However at the last part of his introductory speech, he gave a pointed look to Natsumi.

"Now to get us properly acquainted with each other, why don't we go around the class to introduce ourselves?"

Naruto watched the other kids his age stand up one by one to give their names and ambitions from his spot next to his twin at the back of the class. He recognised some of the clans such as Hyūga, Aburame, Inuzuka, and Yamanaka along with others. The other kids must have been civilians. There was also Uchiha Sasuke, younger son of the clan head and brother to Uchiha Itachi.

"I'm Namikaze Natsumi, and my dream is to become Hokage, just like otōsan," Natsumi quipped with a bright, contagious smile that had everybody save Naruto sporting grins of their own.

Once the redhead sat down, everybody's attention shifted to her blond/silver haired non-identical twin. Taking this as his cue, Naruto stood to address the class.

"My name is Namikaze Naruto, and I guess I just want an easy life," he shrugged and made a move to sit down before he was stopped.

"An easy life?" one of the boy's, the Inuzuka yelled. "You're the son of the freakin' Yondaime and you don't think you have an easy life?" The rest of the class muttered in agreement.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the brunette. "Living off the accomplishments of others is a pretty sad thing to do."

The Inuzuka was about to retort but Iruka beat him to it.

"That's enough Kiba!" he said in a stern voice effectively shutting the boy up. "Now Naruto, would you mind telling us all how you're going to accomplish your dream?"

_He didn't ask anyone else how they're gonna do that_. Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly. "Well, I guess all the fighting has to stop, so there needs to be some sort of world peace. So I guess I will have to bring about peace and order-"

_**-Flashback-**_

"_**And who are you, pesky human that you dare to set foot in my abode?" **__a large single eye stared down as malicious chakra seeped around. The eye was the only illumination in the cloudy night sky._

"_I am the one who will establish peace and order."_

_**-Present-**_

Iruka fought hard to suppress the urge to outright laugh and mock the boy right there. To believe that he of all people thought he could bring about peace… absurd! Preposterous!

"Alright Naruto, we understand your _dream_," the Chūnin instructor said with extra emphasis on the 'dream'. "But please, we don't have time for stories."

Naruto would've glared at the man, if he were not in a state of confusion.

_Where did these memories come from, heck why am __**I**__ having them? _Naruto thought as he retook his seat.

"Now that we've all introduced ourselves, we're going to go outside to evaluate your current skill level, so follow me class," Iruka announced while making his way towards the door.

Naruto followed his sister out of the class, replacing all lingering thoughts with one.

_I'll find out what the flashbacks are about later, but for now, I have to show these instructors that I __**can**__ accomplish my dream._

**X.x.X.x.X**

A shadow flitted across the streets of Konoha, hiding in the alleyways when it could. It avoided each and every ANBU patrol with ease. Not once had it been in danger of exposure.

_It seems that Konoha needs to up their security_ it thought with a self satisfied grin.

It continued its journey, making a beeline towards the Academy, more specifically, the administrative division. This was where the security was beefed up the most along with the inactive Hokage mansion.

It leapt up onto one of the many roofs to pinpoint the location of a certain window. Once it had, it travelled at speed worthy of its status towards the window. As soon as it reached an appropriate distance, it leapt towards the window but not entering the room, rather landing below it and sticking onto the wall with chakra.

It crept up the wall and stepped through the window to the sight of a sleeping Yondaime Hokage, whose head lay upon his folded arms on his desk. Whipping out a kunai from its sleeve, the figure prepared to end the Hokage's life.

However, the Yondaime spun round in his seat, grabbed the offending appendage and slammed the figure into the wall using speed worthy of his moniker. Minato glared into the jovial black irises of his attacker that reminded him so much of…

"Jiraiya-sensei?" he gasped.

Jiraiya gave a full blown grin to his former apprentice. "The one and only kid!"

Minato immediately released the taller man from his hold, clearly embarrassed by his actions. Jiraiya for his part had the audacity to look sheepish for his failed prank.

"So kid, just to let you know, I was on my back anyway, but your message meant I had to come through the quick route, not the scenic," Jiraiya grumbled.

Minato merely sighed as he retook his seat. Jiraiya and his patented scenic routes. He recalled back to his Genin days when his team had missions that took them out of Konoha. On the way back, they will stop in various towns in Hi no Kuni so that Jiraiya could appease his urges at various hot springs.

"How come you were on your way back anyway? Natsumi's birthday is still about a month away," Minato questioned, snapping out of his reminiscence.

Jiraiya's visage became less jovial and slightly more serious as he folded his arms.

"Ōgama-sennin has made another prophecy," Jiraiya said.

"Oh," Minato perked up, giving the Gama-sennin his full attention. "What did he say?"

"He said that the Yogen no Ko has been revealed onto the world, and that a time of great turbulence is coming soon," Jiraiya answered. "However he couldn't see how far away this 'time of great turbulence' was. "

A frown marred Minato's visage. "Did Ōgama-sennin specify what will occur during those times?"

Jiraiya's gaze became solemn as his eyes glazed over. "Only some bits. He said that there will be a lot of bloodshed; many will die even if they did not deserve it. There will also be a large gathering of people of power, in which the Yogen no Ko will appear in. He also says that a person of great power, greater than the likes that we've ever seen before will return."

Minato processed this information with all the brain power he could muster. So, Natsumi will meet with a couple of powerful ninja eh? This could prove valuable for her to establish some allies before she becomes Hokage in his stead.

"So why the urgent return?" Jiraiya asked, returning Minato's attention to the matter at hand.

A sigh from Minato was all that was needed for all the stress accumulated over the years to sneak past his calm exterior. His shoulders became slumped; his cerulean eyes seemed duller, bags underneath his eyes became more prominent, his golden hair lost its glow. All in all, Konoha's golden boy looked defeated.

"It's Naruto." Jiraiya immediately assumed the worst.

"What is it? Has the seal loosened? Did he attack Natsumi-chan? Did he peep on your wife? 'Cos if he did, then I'll-"

"What? Don't be ridiculous sensei, that gaki is not even old enough to know what exactly that thing in between his legs are used for!" Minato exclaimed.

Jiraiya looked stumped for a moment. "Oh, so what is it?"

Minato sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot today. "Well three months ago, I entered both Natsumi and Naruto into the academy. As you know, I already started Natsumi's training for her to control the Kyūbi, and to be prepared for the academy, so it's only natural that she's at the top of her class, right?"

Following a nod from his sensei, Minato took this as a cue to continue.

"She isn't, Naruto is," Minato stated with a grim expression.

Jiraiya looked flabbergasted. "How? How's that even possible?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Minato grumbled. "He is the top in Taijutsu, Senjutsu and Individual work. The only reason why he isn't the top in the other sections is because his chakra control is nothing short of abysmal due to his large chakra reserves, so Ninjutsu is a no-go area. Unfortunately, the same applies with Natsumi, except that she ranks in the lower half of the class in that regard. Nobody really wants to work with Naruto, so that's why he ranks in the middle of the class in Teamwork. The best at Academics is some civilian girl, Takeshi's girl if I'm not mistaken, but Naruto is third in that regard, Natsumi beating him to second.

"Overall, if things continue to progress at this rate, then Naruto will be Rookie of the Year and I'll be forced to allow him to graduate early, something I hoped to avoid. It's not like I can just pull him out of the Academy, that'll just raise many unwanted questions.

"And that's the good news if anything." This statement left Jiraiya stumped. What could possibly worse than some no-good gaki hindering the progress of the Yogen no Ko?

Jiraiya will soon eat those thoughts.

"Naruto has the Rinnegan."

Jiraiya blinked. "Pfftt! PWAH HA HAHAHA! WAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he roared, doubling over, with a hand clutching his abdomen and the other smacking his thigh. Jiraiya's broad shoulders heaved up and down in great amusement at the fact that Naruto of all people 'gained' the Rinnegan.

Jiraiya wiped a stray tear away as he began to settle into small chuckles and spared a glance to his former student. Minato did not look like a person who just cracked a joke; in fact he looked slightly angry.

"Aha ha ha…" Jiraiya trailed off as realization dawned on him. "You're not joking are you? 'Cos if you are, it aint so funny anymore."

Minato just continued to stare at his mentor.

"Fuck me," Jiraiya muttered and ran a hand through his pale locks. "This is not happening… the prophecy… there's only a saviour or destroyer, and Nagato was meant to be the saviour… but he's dead…" the man continued to reason with himself.

Minato rose up from his seat and whipped on his coat. His paperwork for the day was finished and now it was time to attend to other matters.

"I need to see him Minato," Jiraiya said, no longer focused on his thoughts. "I need to see the gaki."

With a curt nod, the master followed his apprentice out of the office.

**X.x.X.x.X**

"Okay class, it's time for you a spar with your peers," Iruka announced, which was met with some cheers along with grumbles and a lone 'mendokusē'.

The class made their way out of the classroom into the academy training grounds, where they lined up outside of the designated sparring zone. One by one, they were paired up with each other to fight until one of the fighters is incapacitated; give's up or the proctor calls the fight.

"Today, I'm going to call the names at random rather than the usual alphabetical order so that everybody will have a wider variety of experience, rather than the same old," Iruka informed the class. "First up is…" he dipped his hand into a box, rummaging around for a minute before pulling out a slip of paper. "Hyūga Hinata and… Namikaze Natsumi."

As the girls made their way into the circle, most of the males in the class roared in approval of being able to see their object of affection in action so soon. Naruto folded his arms, shaking his head as he did so.

The girls stood across from each other, one staring at her opponent, the other, switching from her opponent to her feet every two seconds.

"Remember, full contact is allowed, taijutsu only, the match is called when either you submit or I call the match, now Hajime!"

Natsumi charged at Hinata who had slipped into the basic Jūken stance. Once she was in reach, Hinata lashed out at Natsumi, forcing the girl to roll past. Natsumi evaded another strike that was aimed for her shoulder, darted into Hinata's guard and began her counterattack.

Hinata's eyes widened as Natsumi's fist came towards her face and hastily ducked under the swing. Natsumi smirked however and brought her knee up to Hinata's face, forcing her head back by the sheer force of the blow.

As Hinata staggered back Natsumi followed her quickly, intent on not letting her get away. Natsumi struck Hinata's stomach, and then her face again before ending the combo with a spinning kick then sent the girl careening outside of the circle.

Iruka quickly called the match before rushing to check up on Hinata. After all, Hiashi-sama wouldn't be too pleased if his daughter got too hurt, even if it was by the Namikaze heir.

The class cheered for Natsumi as she made her way back into the fray. She released her crimson locks from the ponytail allowing it to pool over her back.

Naruto sighed and rose is gaze to the clear blue sky. Despite a somewhat cruel battering of her comrade, a fellow classmate no less, everybody just cheered Natsumi as if she bought the head of the Tsuchikage on a silver platter. Jeez sometimes people could be so blind. Hell even some of the chūnin instructors who always preached about teamwork and the likes had proud looks on their faces.

Iruka returned after having another chūnin usher a crying Hinata to the medical room, and then back to the Hyūga compound. He withdrew two slips of paper out of his randomiser and requested for Nara Shikamaru and Inuzuka Kiba to make their way into the circle. However, Shikamaru had other plans, saying it was too troublesome to do so and proceeded to forfeit. This resulted in a chorus of boos and jeers, the brunt of it coming from Kiba himself.

After this, a spar between a Akimichi Chōji and Aburame Shino took place, with Shino outwitting Chōji so that he left the designated area, resulting in a disqualification for Chōji.

"Alright then," Iruka said. "Can Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke make their way forward please?"

_Finally_, Naruto thought as he answered the call.

He entered the circle, facing his opponent who was already there. Naruto listened to the cries of support for the Uchiha. Most of them consisted of requests like 'pound his head in then skewer his guts!' and 'gouge out his scary eyes!' Okay, maybe that was a slight over exaggeration, but it was something along those lines.

_Those are some strange eyes,_ Sasuke thought. _I wonder if it is a Dōjutsu. Either way, it can't be better than the Sharingan; nothing is better than the Sharingan!_

"Remember the rules guys ok?" Iruka said. Following a nod, the chūnin brought his arm down in a chop. "Hajime!"

They both charged at each other, meeting in the middle with a flurry of hits, but failing to score a hit. They both waited for an opening, which was granted to Naruto as Sasuke overextended his arm in a punch aimed for his head.

Naruto caught the offending appendage, using it as a leverage to flip Sasuke over his shoulder. However, Sasuke landed on both feet, quickly lashing out with a roundhouse kick that Naruto blocked and pushed away with his forearms.

Sasuke used the momentum to spin into a low sweep aiming to knock Naruto to the ground. Naruto saw the incoming attack and leapt back, creating space between them.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke had a cocky smirk plastered on his face. "You _scared?_"

Naruto frowned slightly. It seems that Sasuke has been corrupted by his father's arrogant character. Itachi is gonna have so much on his plate in the coming years.

"Say something then! Cat's got your tongue?" Sasuke sneered.

Naruto slipped into a stance that he had made from instinct some while back. Kurama had been a great help with it, pointing out any flaws and helping him improve.

Iruka had a worried look on his face. Who taught Naruto that stance? He knew Hokage-sama only trained Natsumi so he was out of the question. Kushina-sama couldn't seem to tolerate Naruto's presence either. All thoughts aside, that stance looked like something only a ninja of Sandaime-sama's calibre should know.

"You know," Naruto spoke for the first time. "In the real world, those with no talent often bark the loudest."

Sasuke visibly seethed as memories of being ignored by his otōsan came rushing back at full force. He was also reminded of Itachi's obvious superiority in skill, despite both of them being hailed as geniuses.

Naruto smirked to himself as the results of his words manifested on Sasuke's visage. Sure he didn't believe what he said was true, I mean the Inuzuka's were known for being loud and brash, yet they did have some splendid ninja. However, he needed to do what he could to remove that deep seated arrogance before it took hold.

Sasuke rushed towards Naruto, but due to his inner turmoil, his movements became sloppy and predictable. He dished out a punch that was caught by Naruto. Naruto pulled Sasuke towards him and drove his fist into the young Uchiha's stomach.

Sasuke doubled over as he became winded. Naruto crashed his knee into Sasuke's chin, lifting Sasuke's head back up in his own crude way. He hooked his foot behind Sasuke's Achilles tendon and swept him off the ground.

Sasuke fell with a loud thud, shutting his eyes in reflex, his breath once again rushing out of his lungs. He opened his eyes to the sight of Naruto with his fist poised above his face.

"Do you give up?" Naruto asked calmly.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, more in frustration than pain. He blinked back the hot tears that threatened to leak out. He was about to answer before he was interrupted.

"GET OFF HIM NARUTO!" Naruto was jerked off Sasuke's chest as Iruka came into view. "Sasuke are you ok?" he asked with evident concern.

Sasuke ground his teeth in anger. First, the outcast defeated him, the prodigy. Then now the bloody _instructor_ had to save him. Since when did an Uchiha need help? They could do anything they wanted by themselves!

He slapped away the hand that was offered to him and quickly rose to his feet. He sent a glare toward Naruto and stormed off towards the Uchiha district.

"Look what you've done to Sasuke-kun, baka!"

"You took it too far Naruto."

"Why did you do that anyway?"

Naruto ran a hand through his hair wearily as his victory was met with disapproval from all sides. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Natsumi smirking at him, clearly amused by the whole ordeal. He was about to make his way towards the water fountain but he was stopped by the killer intent of none other than Iruka.

Iruka had a look of pure and unbridled fury. He was about to march over and give Naruto a piece of his mind but was stopped by the presence of two ANBU agents.

"Hokage-sama has requested for today's session to be brought to an end immediately. We shall escort Natsumi-sama and Naruto-san back to their residence as per the Hokage's order."

Iruka gave a small nod. "Okay class, unfortunately our session has come to an end. For all of you that were unable to spar today, you'll get your chance next week. You're all free to go, take care."

The class shouted with joy as they all ran home. The ANBU agents each went to a separate twin, disappearing with a Shunshin **(Body flicker)**.

Iruka remained in his position as various thoughts swarmed in his head.

_That Naruto… he's gonna be a problem, I can tell. The Kyūbi is breaking free, or at least influencing his actions… Sasuke stood no chance. No I can't let Naruto progress at the rate he's going, even if it means sabotaging his growth, then so be it._

His resolve set, Iruka returned back to the academy with a grim determination.

**X.x.X.x.X**

"Jiraiya-jisan!" Jiraiya managed to get up from the couch before a red blur tackled him back down.

"Hey Natsumi-chan," he chuckled. "How is my favourite girl doing?"

Natsumi looked up to her godfather with big violet eyes and a dazzling smile, that made Jiraiya want to forgo his reputation, pull her into a bone crushing hug and squeal 'KAWAII!'

"I'm doing great Jisan!"

"Really eh?" Jiraiya smirked and balanced the girl on his lap. "So how was school?"

As Natsumi recounted her day for Jiraiya, Minato watched the exchange with a small smile. It was good that Natsumi had such a good relationship with her godfather; it wouldn't do for both of his children to be estranged from everybody.

"But Naruto didn't stop hurting him!" Natsumi said, drawing Minato's attention back to his daughter.

"Who did Naruto hurt?" Minato asked.

"Sasuke, it was meant to be a spar, but Naruto took it too far so Iruka-sensei had to stop him," Natsumi answered.

Minato sighed. Fugaku is going to bitch about this for a long, _long_ while._ Great going Naruto, you've just made my life a lot harder_. Speaking of Naruto…

"Natsumi-chan?" Minato called.

Natsumi's head perked up towards her father. "Hai otōsan?" she answered.

"Where's your brother?"

"He said he was tired and went up to his room," Natsumi revealed.

Minato narrowed his eyes slightly and unconsciously started to leak some killer intent. Naruto was becoming too arrogant for his liking. How can you return home and go straight to bed without greeting anyone? Maybe he should start punishing the bo-

"Minato!" Jiraiya hissed, snapping Minato out of his reverie.

Minato saw Jiraiya gesture to Natsumi with a slight jerk of his head. His daughter looked quite frightened and shaken up due to the build up of killer intent. His features softened and opened his arms, beckoning for a hug.

Natsumi ran to her father who was seated on the other couch and buried her head in his chest. Minato stroked her hair slowly, whispering apologies to the red head. When she had calmed down Minato gave her a small kiss on her forehead.

"Gomenasai **(I'm very sorry)** Natsumi-chan, I hope you can forgive me?"

With a big grin, Natsumi nodded. "Hai! I forgive you otōsan!"

Minato gave a matching a grin to his daughter. "Arigatō." He nuzzled his face in Natsumi's hair, inhaling the scent of strawberries just like Kushina's. "Can you get Naruto for me please?"

With a small nod, Natsumi bounded out of the lounge to fetch her twin. Minato watched her leave the room before feeling the burning gaze of his sensei on him. He turned his attention to the self proclaimed 'Super Pervert' who had a smirk on his face.

"What?"

"Don't 'what' me Minato," Jiraiya chided. "You know exactly why I'm smirking."

"Enlighten me Jiraiya-_dono_," Minato said sarcastically.

If Jiraiya noticed the jibe, he didn't show it. "You're getting soft kid. You weren't all mushy-mushy like this when you were still dating Kushina-chan."

"When was I ever mushy-mushy?" Minato asked.

Jiraiya's smirk became a full blown grin. "'Gomenasai Natsumi-chan, please forgive me'," he mocked with a high pitched girly voice.

Minato let out a small chuckle and shook his head. Trust Jiraiya to make light of any situation no matter how dire.

It was at this point that Naruto entered the lounge, with which both men turned their attention to the boy.

"Konnichiwa otōsan, Jiraiya-sama," he greeted with a small bow to them at the mention of their names.

Jiraiya gave a small 'hn' opting to study the boy's eyes instead while Minato decided to be more obvious regarding his feelings towards the silvery blond.

"Naruto, do you want to explain why you went straight to your room upon your return?" Minato asked, trying to sound merely curious than angry.

Naruto blinked. "I couldn't sleep last night so I was tired to begin with, and then today's spar made me even more tired, so I wanted to get some rest."

"And you couldn't stop by to greet us on your way to your room?"

"I never knew anyone was in," Naruto replied calmly.

Minato snorted. "But your sister did."

Naruto opened his mouth then closed it, unknowingly imitating a fish out of water. Seeing as Naruto was stumped, Minato decided to stop pursuing the matter.

"Anyway, Jiraiya-sensei wants to speak to you," he gestured towards Jiraiya.

Naruto casted a questioning glance towards Jiraiya.

"C'mere gaki," Jiraiya beckoned with a 'come hither' motion.

Naruto warily made his way towards his godfather stopping about three feet in front of him. It took all of his self control not to flinch under the scrutinising gaze of the man.

Jiraiya took notice of the dark rings under Naruto's Rinnegan eyes. _So he was telling the truth after all… I guess I __**could**__ cut him some slack_. Jiraiya also took in the two distinct spikes at the front of Naruto's hair, along with the more flowing tone of it. _Even though he matches the description of legends, it's what's inside that count_.

"I can't help but notice that your eyes are different, how did that happen?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto's gaze flickered to his father, then back to Jiraiya. It seemed as if Jiraiya was in the dark of how exactly he got these legendary eyes.

Naruto recounted the tale, using every ounce of eidetic memory he had on the event to try and fill any gaps he may have left. However, he made sure to leave out his conversation with Kurama.

"Well," Jiraiya began after Naruto finished. "I can't say I believe your story… but I cannot deny that your eyes truly are the Rinnegan."

Naruto merely nodded, a faint hope rising from the bottom of his stomach.

"You can go back to your room now, but try and get some rest eh?" Jiraiya said.

With a small nod, Naruto left the room and shut the door behind him silently. He was about to take a step up the stairs before Kurama called him.

_**Naruto, I believe it would be in your best interests to stay behind.**_

Naruto frowned slightly. _You want me to eavesdrop? But isn't that rude?_

_**I know it's rude, but I can't help but feel that those humans are planning something that may bode ill for you.**_

_But what if I get caught by Natsumi or Okaasan? And I'm pretty sure Otōsan and Jiraiya-sama will sense me_.

Naruto felt Kurama smirk, which was a weird experience in itself. _**Let me worry about your otōsan and godfather. However it'll be your job to keep stay out of sight. Consider it as practise.**_

Naruto weighed up the pros and cons before deciding it was worth it.

_Okay then; you ready?_ Feeling the nod from said fox, Naruto continued. _Let's go, Kurama._

He crept back next to the door, extremely grateful that there were no creaky boards across the floor. Channelling a minuscule amount of chakra into his ears, he began to intrude on the conversation.

"-tsumi-chan is the Yogen no Ko, I know that for sure." That was Jiraiya-sama's voice.

"Then what about Naruto and the Rinnegan. If he isn't the Yogen no Ko, then he shouldn't be in possession of such great power."

"I know that! I mean, neither you nor Kushina-chan have a Kekkei Genkai, and it's pretty ridiculous to say Naruto suddenly inherited it from the Sage, so there's only one other guess."

A pause. "He's gonna be the Destroyer right?"

Another pause, this one longer than the first. "'m afraid so Minato."

"Then what should we do? I'm stumped at the moment."

"Well there's only one course of action and we're gonna need Kushina-chan's help with her knowledge of Fuuinjutsu."

"What're you planning Jiraiya?" Otōsan must be serious to forgo the sensei.

"We're, as in me, you and Kushina-chan, are going to seal away Naruto's Rinnegan, along with his access to the Kyūbi's chakra."

"Are you serious? What would people say when they see his eyes are back to normal?"

"We'll just tell them that there was a slight mutation in his genes caused by the Kyūbi, but it's all good now. And don't give me that look Minato, not that many people knows of the Rinnegan."

Naruto's breath got caught in his throat. Seal away the Rinnegan? If that weren't enough, they were going to disrupt his link to Kurama? Tears began to sprout up in his eyes as whatever hope he had gained from before disintegrated into nothing.

_**Pay attention Naruto, I doubt they've finished.**_

With a small nod, Naruto wiped away his tears and continued to listen. Luckily for him, no words had been spoken since.

"When are we gonna do it?"

"Well, we can't do it right away because we need to prepare. Also, we may need to wait until after Natsumi-chan's birthday, we don't need him to throw a hissy fit in public. Along with the sealing, we may need to wipe away Naruto's memories."

"I agree, this would reflect badly on us if any of our enemies, say Iwa, got wind of the whole ordeal."

Deciding he had heard enough, Naruto rushed back upstairs into his room where he fell into his bed and sobbed into his pillow.

How could they do that? How could he do that to his own son? They actually want to wipe away his own _memories? _That just goes to show how highly he was valued in the family.

As Naruto cried himself to sleep, Kurama lay in his cell, visibly seething at the way Minato and Jiraiya treated his father's heir. If only he could be released for five minutes… that would be aquedate time for him to end the lives of those pitiful humans.

He remembered the first time a human had actually insulted him to his face and got away with it

_**-Flashback-**_

"Kyūbi, you're merely a momentary life form, a temporary existence of coalesced energy… energy that once was a single ultimate form!

"An unstable force, lacking in intelligence or sapience, you require a guide to show you purpose. That guide is the Uchiha! The Bijū are nothing but slaves to those with blessed eyes.

"**OBEY!"**

_**-End flashback-**_

Next was Hashirama.

_**-Flashback-**_

"Kyūbi, your power is too great. I cannot allow you to roam free any longer!"

_**-End flashback-**_

Then his wife.

_**-Flashback-**_

"If you use your power, only hatred will come from it. Stay tranquil deep inside of me."

_**-End flashback-**_

And then the Yondaime's wife.

_**-Flashback-**_

"Neither of us have any sort of luck do we? You keep the world at bay… but _I_ keep _you_ at bay."

_**-End flashback-**_

Kurama was especially shocked at the way Kushina treated her son. He thought she understood his pain, the pain of being shunned, but instead she joins the crowd.

_**No matter how they say it… human's only say one thing. **_

However, along with those memories, Kurama remembered the very first time he was controlled against his will. It was the first and only time he had ever experienced fear. Fortunately for him, time had taken away bits and pieces from the repressed memories.

Unfortunately for Kurama though, he still remembered the most terrifying part.

Those cold, grey spirals continued to haunt him to this day…

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto woke up to the sound of shuffling coming from the landing outside his bedroom. It took a while for him to get his bearings before he sat up. He listened to the sounds leaking into his room for a further five minutes before a somewhat loud puff put an end to it.

Naruto glanced at the calendar mounted on his wall and read the date.

October 10th 1907.

His and Natsumi's eighth birthday, except his parents and family friends decided to only remember it as Natsumi's birthday.

He also remembered that this was the 'big day' as Jiraiya-sama liked to put it. Apparently, Natsumi will be confirmed as some sort of saviour. And in order to do that, they had to go to some mountain of sorts in another world. Naruto only managed to pick up bits and pieces, but it was something like that.

Stepping out bed, Naruto went to brush his teeth and take a quick shower. He then dressed and made himself a quick breakfast of instant ramen. He returned to his room and pulled out a medium sized tan and black drawstring duffle bag. He began placing scroll that had various items sealed within them into the bag. Each scroll was labelled for easy identification.

Once he had finished packing, he surveyed his room. The sky blue walls were one of the things he loved about it, though he wouldn't have minded if it were orange. Naruto made sure that the room didn't look too devoid of items as not to arouse the suspicions of anyone. Doing so will throw a major wrench into his plans.

He and Kurama had decided to leave Konoha to escape from the plans that Minato and Jiraiya had conjured up against him. They didn't know if they were going to return, hell they didn't even know where they would go. But the bottom line was as long as they had each other's companionship, then those issues didn't really matter.

Naruto replaced his bag back under his bed, took a book on various weaponry and their fighting styles, sat on his bed with his back against the wall, and began reading. However, he couldn't really concentrate on the book and his mind kept wandering from one worry to the other, but his main worry was the upcoming birthday party.

The other birthday party's he–well Natsumi–had had full of fake smiles and hateful glares, which wasn't really anything new. You get used to used to that sort of thing once you are exposed to it on a daily basis.

No, the main cause for concern was how people will interact with him now he had the Rinnegan. Now Naruto was by no means ashamed of his eyes, especially since Kurama told him that the only person apart from himself who had those eyes was the Rikudō Sennin, the Shinobi no Kami and father of Ninjutsu. On the other hand, people already treated him as a freak and his eyes will only add fuel to the inferno.

Naruto was snapped out of his musings by another loud puff of smoke and a series of loud grumblings. Channelling chakra into his ears, he began to find out what the problem was.

"-can't believe the nerve of him! Just who the hell does he think he is, saying that he's busy?" That was Kaasan.

"It's strange really. Ma and Pa told me to bring Natsumi-chan today to confirm the prophecy with Ōgama-sennin." Jiraiya-sama.

"Relax guys, there's no hurry, we'll see him another time. Now come on, we've got to prepare for Natsumi-chan's party." Tōsan. "Now Natsumi-chan, I want you to relax, don't be too bothered about the whole meeting issue. Kaasan, Jiraiya-sensei and I are going to prepare your party…"

Naruto stopped the chakra flow into his ears, tuning out if you may. There was nothing to be bothered about really, just an appointment gone awry.

With a small sigh, he returned back to his book, finally able to concentrate.

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto sat on a low wall in the back garden staring at the stars in the night sky as a cool breeze washed over him. The music from the house played in the background as a low hum. It was moments like these that Naruto could say he felt at peace. However, as fate would have it, this moment of peace was only temporary.

"Hello Naruto-kun," a silky smooth voice carried through the night.

Naruto suppressed a small shudder and turned to face the owner of such voice. "Konbanwa Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru smirked to himself at the show of respect. "What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside celebrating with your family and friends?"

It was a rhetorical question and Naruto knew so. "Well I like the sky y'know? Seeing it at night always put me at ease."

"I see," Orochimaru replied. He watched Naruto return back to his sky gazing now that he was more relaxed. "I couldn't help but notice that your eyes have changed." Naruto flinched. "What happened?"

Naruto didn't know how to answer the question and he really didn't want to lie. Despite his creepiness and weird mannerisms, Orochimaru-sama was one of the few people that actually treated him well, a luxury that Naruto wanted to retain at all costs.

But he already told Jiraiya-sama the truth and look where that got him. Decisions, decisions. Thankfully someone else came to his rescue.

"Naruto-kun, Kushina-sama requests your presence for the cake cutting." Thank Kami for Uchiha Itachi. Naruto recently became friends with the ANBU captain ever since Itachi saw the boy training. They talked for a bit, both realising that they both had the same ideals of world peace.

"Alright Itachi-san," Naruto got up and faced the stoic Uchiha. "Oyasuminasai Orochimaru-sama," with a small bow to the man, he walked back into the house.

Orochimaru locked gazes with Itachi. To any onlookers, it would've looked like these two were sworn enemies. Itachi broke the staring contest, following Naruto into the house. Orochimaru's smirk became a full blown grin. Things were looking good. It seemed that the Rinnegan was now in Konoha's possession, and luckily for him, nobody seemed to want to look past the Jinchūriki status and see the latent power and unearthed potential in Naruto's being. To be perfectly honest, Naruto is the only person that can even touch a fragment of the Rikudō Sennin's power, being the Jinchūrki of the most powerful Bijū.

Now all Orochimaru had to do was get closer to the boy and mould him in his own image and when the time is ripe, he will strike.

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto walked through the large gathering of people towards the small clearing in the middle of the lounge where a small table was set up. Minato and Natsumi were already waiting for the boy to arrive so that they could cut the cake. Naruto stood next to his sister, ignoring the harsh looks sent his way. He especially avoided the gaze of a certain Uchiha clan head, who was less than pleased that his son got beaten in a spar.

The lights dimmed as Kushina came out of the kitchen holding a large square cake with eight lit candles. As she made her way towards the table, the people in attendance began to sing happy birthday to the twins.

Kushina placed the cake on the table, smiling at the twins. Despite her treatment of him, Naruto still took pride in the fact that his mother was beautiful. Once the singing reached its climax, Natsumi and Naruto blew out the candles and shit their eyes to make their wishes.

_I wish that I won't be caught when leaving tomorrow and for protection. Also, I hope that you will protect my family. _

Naruto opened his eyes and placed his hand behind his sister's on the knife and cut the cake.

"Say cheese!" Jiraiya had whipped out a camera from nowhere, taking the picture with a bright flash. Naruto had managed to give a small but genuine smile.

As the people closed in to get a slice of the cake – who could blame them? Kushina's cooking was a thing of legends – Naruto made his way towards his room. It was already late and he had an early start ahead of him tomorrow.

Just as he was about to enter his room, he was stopped by a voice.

"Isn't it a bit too early for bed Naruto-kun?" Naruto shifted his gaze to Itachi who gave him a small smile.

Naruto returned the smile. "I have a headache so I want to sleep it off."

"A headache eh?" Naruto nodded. "I was under the impression that Jinchūriki weren't affected by trivial things like that."

Naruto had the decency to look sheepish. He was caught red handed and Itachi knew it. Luckily for him, Itachi decided not to dwell on it.

"Here," he handed Naruto a small rectangular box. "Happy Birthday."

Naruto took the box. "Arigatō Itachi-san." He opened the box to the sight of the most beautiful necklace he had ever seen. It had six ruby magatama strung along it, giving off an ethereal glow. Deep inside his being, he heard Kurama gasp in surprise, but paid no mind to it as he was entranced by the beauty of the necklace. "Gomenasai Itachi-san, but I can't accept this," he held the box back towards Itachi.

"Nonsense, it's your birthday Naruto-kun. Beside I have no use for it," Itachi pushed the box back to Naruto.

"B-But it must have cost a fortune!" he protested.

"Actually, a travelling storyteller gave it to me when I was in Suna a couple of years back and it's just been gathering dust on top of my closet," Itachi explained.

Naruto opened his mouth to retort but decided against it as he continued to gaze at the necklace. He gave Itachi a deep bow. "Arigatō Itachi-san, I'll never forget this."

"It was nothing," Itachi waved him off. He began to leave but stopped at the top of the stairs. "But Naruto-kun, whatever you're planning to do, make sure that you don't get caught," he said suddenly with the utmost seriousness, one that was befitting of an ANBU captain. "Don't trust anybody, but don't isolate everybody that tries to get close to you. Finally, if you happen to see Orochimaru again, leave immediately."

"Orochimaru-sama? Why?" Naruto was flabbergasted.

Itachi closed his eyes and lowered his head. "Trust me, you don't want to know. Oyasuminasai Naruto-kun." With those words, Itachi departed.

Naruto's gaze lingered at the spot where his friend previously occupied. He looked back at the necklace, a small smile adorning his features.

_Arigatō Itachi-san, for everything… _

**X.x.X.x.X**

_**Wake up Naruto, it's time to go.**_

_Thanks Kurama_

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he got up fully dressed. The dawn sunlight streamed through closed curtains, providing the only illumination in the room, not that Naruto needed it. Naruto brought out his bag from beneath his bed, doing some last minute packing. He was about to pack the necklace, but decided against it, opting to wear it instead. It seemed to fit him perfectly, as if it were made for him.

Naruto threw his bag over his shoulder and placed a black hooded cloak over his wiry frame. He slipped on his sandals. Naruto channelled chakra into his eyes, switching it into chakra viewing mode so that he would only see the chakra of nearby others.

Once he had located the positions of the various ANBU's that were thankfully asleep, probably due to excessive drinking during the Kyūbi festival, he slipped out of his window.

Naruto made his way through the village towards the Sarutobi household, intent on seeing his grandfather figure before his departure. He ran towards the front door and knocked. Thankfully he was heard as the door was swung open to reveal Sarutobi Asuma.

"Naruto?" he asked confused. "What're you doing here?"

"Errm can I come in please?" Naruto asked nervously. It wouldn't do for him to be caught by some ANBU after all that work.

"Yeah sure come right in." Asuma stepped by, permitting the boy entrance. "HEY OLD MAN!" he yelled. "THERE'S SOMEONE TO SEE YOU!"

Naruto winced slightly at the volume of the man's voice. A short while later, some grumbling was heard accompanied with the sound of slippers on wooden floor.

"Why would someone distur – Naruto-kun?" the Sandaime asked.

"Ohayō Jisan!" Naruto greeted with a bright grin.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what're you doing here so early in the morning?" Hiruzen asked. "But before that, I want you to take a shower, you stink!"

Naruto blushed embarrassedly. "Jisan!" he whined.

Asuma let out a booming laugh at the small display as Naruto made his way towards the bathroom.

"And you," Hiruzen began glaring at his son, stopping the man in mid laugher. "What kind of person shouts in the morning, five in the morning no less?"

Asuma rubbed the back of his head sheepishly with a small grin. He was happy that he and his father had patched things up, with Naruto playing a big part in the process.

"Now come and help me prepare breakfast for Naruto-kun, he's going to need it."

Asuma followed his father into their kitchen and turned the stove on as they began to prepare ramen for each of them. Naruto joined them in the kitchen as they began to dish the food out. They each took a seat on one of the many stools on around the island dining table.

"Itadakimasu!" chopsticks snapped, they all dug in with gusto.

"So Naruto-kun, I just want to apologise on behalf of Asuma and myself. I'm sorry that we couldn't make it to your birthday party yesterday," Hiruzen looked quite sad.

"It's ok Jisan, you both had your reasons." It was no secret within the inner circles slash upper echelons of the shinobi system that the Yondaime and Sandaime didn't see eye to eye. In fact, the only time they really spoke was during council meetings.

"So kid, you want to tell me where you're running off to early this morning?" Asuma asked.

"Well I'm leaving Konoha," Naruto answered.

Hiruzen and Asuma both looked shocked. They knew about his treatment, but was it so bad that he had to leave?

"Leave? Why?" Hiruzen asked.

Naruto explained the reasons behind his decision. As his explanation went on, father and son alike both found themselves becoming disgusted with Minato. Why kind of a man plan's to remove his own firstborn son's memories?

"But don't worry Jisan, Uncle Asuma," Naruto chirped with a smile that was slightly forced. "I'm not leaving forever."

"I know, but…" Hiruzen trailed off. "Just stay safe okay?"

"Hai."

The group talked about various things, just catching up in general. When Naruto told them about his encounter with Orochimaru the day before, Hiruzen got a small frown on his face which Naruto caught but said nothing of it.

Naruto got off his stool; his ramen now finished and wrapped his cloak on. He walked towards the door, stopping only to replace his sandals. "I'm gonna miss you guys y'know. Look after Natsumi for me, she seems confident on the exterior, but she's still… y'know young – not that I'm old or anything!" Naruto chuckled alongside the two adults. "But yeah."

Hiruzen enveloped the boy in a hug, slipping a few scroll into his bag without the silvery-blonde knowing. Asuma caught the movement and gave a small wistful smile.

"Stay safe kid, we're gonna miss you," Asuma said once his father had got up.

"Me too Uncle Asuma, I'll never forget you guys." With those words, Naruto left the house.

Father and son both watched him dart through the village from the doorway.

"Y'know," Asuma said as soon as Naruto disappeared from sight. "He's gonna be one hell of a ninja."

"Don't you know it Asuma-kun."

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto slipped out of Konoha into the surrounding forests and took off at a breakneck speed, flooding his muscles with chakra.

_Remember this day Kurama, this is the day we set out on our journey._

_**Yes indeed. Do you have any destination in mind?**_

_Well… I'll just go where the wind guides me._

**_Go with the wind eh? _**Kurama gave a toothy grin.**_ I like the sound of that._**

**A/N:** Senjutsu can be strategy as well as Sage Arts.


	3. Chapter 3: Philosophy

**A/N:** Alright, for those of you who think that Haō and Anna is a SK reference… you're wrong, as stupid as that sounds. The reasons behind using the name Haō is explained in the A/N at the end of chapter one of Fuuinjutsu: Uzumaki Style. I used Anna because it was the first name that popped into my head. I didn't realise the SK reference until people began to comment on it. Thanks for the reviews, favs and alerts though.

**Chapter 3:** Philosophy

Naruto continued to charge through the forest of Hi no Kuni, creating a slight turbulence in his wake. To any onlookers, they would only see a slight blur but feel a large gust of wind. The afternoon sun beat down on him mercilessly from its position high in the clear blue sky.

Naruto wiped away a bead of sweat that trickled down his forehead. His eyes were still in its chakra viewing mode, which he deployed effectively to avoid ANBU patrols. However, in doing so, he had to make quite a lot of detours, despite not having a destination in mind. If there were any sensors with them, then the ANBU were unable to sense him due to Kurama suppressing his chakra to a minimum.

Since leaving Konoha, Naruto had been moving non-stop as to put as much distance between Konoha and himself. Due to this, his stamina had been ebbing away slowly but surely.

Naruto wondered how his parents would react once they discovered he was missing. He wasn't sure if he would be happy or annoyed if they sent out search parties for him. But if they decided to send out Inuzuka trackers… well needless to say, he was in deep shit.

His eyes picked up several chakra signatures up ahead, too many to be an ANBU unit, but too small to be a town. Naruto noticed that unlike the other ninja, these chakra signatures had a golden colour rather than the generic blue. He slowed down his run into a jog and cut off the supply of chakra into his eyes so that they didn't see chakra anymore.

His jog brought him out of the forest into a large courtyard. A huge wall stretched along the grounds between two mountains and a large golden gate. The gate had a statue of Yamabushi and Tengu on either side. Above the gate was written Hi no Tera **(Fire Temple)**.

He could hear the sounds of people training from behind the walls and some ringing sounds, most likely from various shakujō being used.

Naruto turned to leave and continue on his way, channelling chakra back into his eyes. As he did so, he felt an electric jolt shoot through his being and fell on his knees in pain. As his knees hit the ground, he screamed in pain.

_Kurama!_ He called in panic. _What's going on?_

His muscles felt as if it were torn into ribbons. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the case.

_**Your body is unaccustomed to having chakra flowing through the muscles for long periods of time,**_ Kurama replied. _**Also, my suppression of your chakra prevented it from diffusing out into the atmosphere, so it was all compressed into your muscles, to the point that the slightest slip of concentration will shred your muscles.**_

_What's gonna happen to me?_ Naruto asked. His body had dropped to the floor, matted with sweat and his breaths came laboriously.

_**I'm working as hard and as fast as I can to speed up the healing process. However you will most likely be discovered sooner or later either by ANBU patrols or the residents of the Temple.**_

Naruto coughed up a mouthful of blood as he struggled to stay awake. Dark spots coated his vision as they slowly became bigger. His rippled eyes rolled to the back of his head as unconsciousness took hold.

_**NARUTO! STAY AWAKE DAMMIT! NARUTO...!**_

Kurama's cries were in vain as Naruto was no longer responsive.

**X.x.X.x.X**

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat at his low dining table in a seiza position, his unwavering gaze locked with that of Minato's. The tension between the two men was so thick; the atmosphere became oppressive to the other occupants of the room.

About three hours ago, Konoha was in a slight state of panic as they searched high and low for the missing son of the Hokage to no avail. Some thought that the 'demon' had finally got his own, but some of the more paranoid conspiracy theorist say that the Sandaime Tsuchikage, Ryōtenbin no Ōnoki flew into Konoha, kidnapped Naruto to brainwash him and use him as some sort of secret weapon against Konoha in the coming years. Hiruzen could only shake his head at the wild imaginations of some people.

Some five minutes ago, much to Hiruzen's expectation, Minato and Kushina turned up on his doorstep in their search for Naruto. He begrudgingly permitted them entrance into his home despite the silent pleas from his son.

Which now leads us to his current predicament. Deciding that the tension may escalate into a fight of sorts, Hiruzen decided to break the silent.

"So what can I do for you Minato?" Minato took notice of the missing '-kun' at the end of his name.

"I was wondering if you know of the whereabouts of my son," Minato replied.

"And why would I know that? Isn't that the one of the many jobs of parenthood?" Hiruzen asked.

Kushina sighed impatiently. "If we knew, we wouldn't be asking you."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at the redhead. It seems that all this fame of being the wife of the Yondaime and mother to the so called 'saviour of Konoha' was getting to her head.

"You know Kushina," Hiruzen said, leaking out a slight dose of concentrated killer intent. "When I welcomed you into this village, back when you were but a humble little girl who just wanted the pain of loss taken away from her, I never pegged you down as the type to become arrogant due to a small rise in status. _You should know you place_."

Kushina's eyes widened in rage as she was about to retort, but Minato beat her to the punch.

"I'll have you not to talk to my wife like that!" Minato snapped. "I think you should know your place, _former_ Hokage."

Hiruzen returned his gaze back to Minato, who recoiled slightly at the intensity within the Sandaime's eyes.

"When you're in my home, you respect my wishes Yondaime. You should remember that I selected you, not the other way round. If you cannot remember that, well I'm sure you know where the door is," Hiruzen got up to leave the room.

"Wait!" Kushina's voice stopped him. "I'm sorry Sandaime-sama, I'm just overwhelmed, that's all."

Hiruzen regarded her for a minute, relishing the sight of her shifting nervously under his gaze. He decided to ease her nervousness and returned to his seiza position.

"Look Hiruzen," Minato restarted. "I know that we haven't seen eye to eye for a long while now, but we need your help to find Naruto."

Hiruzen lit up his pipe and took a long drag from it. _Ahh, this is the good shit._

"And if I do?" he asked.

"Hm?"

"If I do help you to find Naruto-kun, what next?" Hiruzen asked, looking specifically at Minato gauging his reaction.

"We welcome him back of course," Kushina answered.

Hiruzen took another purposefully long drag, causing Minato's eyes to narrow in suspicion at the man.

_He's too calm about this… and I don't like that at all._

"Really eh?" Kushina blinked in confusion. "So you're telling me that you will finally treat him like your son, not some leper hm? Now you will at least make the effort to give him at least some of your attention? That you will shower him with your love as you do with Natsumi?"

Kushina gasped in shock. "We DO NOT treat Naruto like some leper!"

"I beg to differ Kushina. Even a blind person can see the level of affection you hold for your son. In fact, the way you two treat him is like he doesn't even exist."

"T-That's not true!" Kushina began breaking down as tears began streaming down her face, but she fought hard to hold it back.

"Hm? Really? If you're this ignorant, then I'm surprised Naruto-kun hasn't commited suicide by now," Hiruzen pressed on.

At the mention of 'suicide' Kushina's tears broke free, like a river from a dam. Minato immediately pulled her into a one armed hug. He levelled a glare at Hiruzen and had the cheek to leak out a trickle of killer intent in the Sandaime's direction.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at Minato as soon as he felt the killer intent. He flooded Minato with his own, causing the blonde to sweat profusely.

_That's right, you've never really experienced why I'm known as the Shinobi no Kami…_

Minato pulled Kushina into a full hug and whispered a few words to her. He stroked his hand through her red hair. She nodded a few times and broke the hug. She wiped her tears with an arm as she got up and left the room.

Hiruzen continued to take long drags from his pipe as he sensed Kushina's chakra signature leave his house first, then the compound. He watched Minato smooth out his signature white jacket and readjust his seated position so that he were comfortable.

"Now that Kushina is gone, now we can talk properly. Frankly, I don't care if Naruto is gone or not, but you know where he is, don't you?" it was more of a statement than a question.

"Unfortunately for you, I don't," Hiruzen responded nonchalantly.

Minato pursed his lips. "But you know the reasons behind his disappearance?"

Once again Hiruzen took a long drag from his pipe, which served its purpose to infuriate the younger shinobi.

"You disappoint me Minato; a person's tools are theirs to keep and use as they pleased, not for others to take away."

Those words made Minato's eyes to widen in astonishment. Naruto knew! Things weren't looking good for him if Naruto decided to squeal. Now more than ever, he needed Naruto back in Konoha. But if Naruto had told Hiruzen, who else had he told?

"So he told you eh?" Minato smirked. "It's a shame he doesn't know the full story, or you for that matter."

Hiruzen's head inclined slightly. "What do you mean?"

Minato began to chuckle. "Well well well what do we have here? Is the almighty Professor unsure of something?"

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed slightly at the slight display of insanity.

Minato got up from his seiza, walked round the table stood beside Hiruzen as he patted the Sandaime's shoulder.

"Don't worry Sarutobi-sama, all will be revealed in due time. Just bear in mind that everything I do is for the good of Konoha." Minato swiftly left the room and home, his words still hanging in the air.

**X.x.X.x.X**

Cool surroundings.

_I'm not in the open then._

Comfort.

_Probably on a bed or chair._

Voices…

_I wonder if Konoha caught me. _

Naruto cracked his eyes open slightly, the light assaulting his senses. He abruptly shut his eyes, slightly hissing in pain. He seemed to have caught the attention of the other occupants of the room as the talking halted.

He felt a cool, wet towel pressed to his forehead, refreshing his senses. He once again opened his eyes, not affected by the light anymore.

Gentle brown eyes stared right back at him when he shifted his gaze to the right. Naruto took in the form of a man in his late fifties who was bald and had a greying beard. He wore a monks robe. The man gave him a comforting smile. Another man in his mid twenties, also bald but clean shaven and had very thick eyebrows that reminded Naruto of a certain Jōnin back in Konoha. He was also clothed in monk garbs.

"How are you feeling?" the elderly monk asked in a kind voice that reeked wisdom, which reminded Naruto of Jisan.

Naruto opened his lips to reply, but his parched throat was unable to formulate words. The younger monk helped Naruto sit up in the bed and brought a ceramic cup of cold water to his cracked lips. Naruto took gentle sips, draining the cup of its contents. With a satisfied sigh, Naruto settled back down into the bed. He also noticed that his arms and torso were wrapped in bandages.

"I feel like I fell from the top of the Hokage monument," Naruto finally replied.

The elderly monk let out a small chuckle, his shoulders shaking up and down, while the younger gave a small smile.

"My name is Bansai," the elderly monk said. "This is Chiriku," he pointed at the younger man.

"Naruto," Naruto replied. The less that knew of his defection from Konoha, the better. If Bansai picked up on the lack of surname, he didn't show it. "How did I get here?"

"Well, some of the other monks felt a large chakra spike coming from outside the walls. Normally we would just ignore such trivial things, but my good friend Sarutobi Hiruzen had sent me a message, notifying me of the possibility that you may stop by. With that in mind, I decided to investigate and found you in a critical condition.

"You were suffering from the most serious case of internal bleeding I have ever seen. I also noticed that your wounds were healing at a somewhat rapid rate. Hiruzen mentioned in his letter that you're a Jinchūriki, so I assumed that fast healing is one of the many privileges of being one.

"Chiriku and I took you in and we have watched over you for the past three days. Luckily your wounds weren't too serious for us to treat."

Naruto's eyes widened. Three days! He had been gone for three days! He then remembered another thing.

_Kurama!_ He called. _Where are you?_

_**I'm here Naruto,**_ Kurama grumbled. _**You've just woke me up from my sleep, jeez.**_

_Gomen Kurama,_ Naruto replied sheepishly. _Are you ok?_

_**Yes, just need to recover my chakra. The question is are you ok?**_

_Hai. Arigatō Kurama._

_**Don't mention it.**_

Naruto returned his attention back to the outside world, where Chiriku and Bansai were both giving him curious looks.

"Are you ok Naruto-san?" Chiriku asked.

Naruto was about to reply but then realised one thing. Jisan told them he was a Jinchūriki! That means that they would know of his true identity, and he was still in Hi no Kuni so ANBU could come a calling… Crap!

But if Jisan told them he was a Jinchūriki, that means they are trustworthy, well at least Bansai and Chiriku are. Naruto decided to give them a benefit of a doubt and tell them the truth.

"Yeah, I was just talking to Kurama," he finally said.

"Kurama?" Bansai asked. "Who's that?"

Naruto almost facepalmed himself at his stupidity. Of course they don't know who Kurama is!

"Kurama is the Kyūbi, but he's called Kurama. The Rikudō Sennin named him upon his creation," Naruto informed them.

Bansai gave a small smile of understanding, but Chiriku was shocked.

"Y-You've tamed the Kyūbi!" he stuttered.

Naruto frowned at the man. "I didn't 'tame' Kurama; we are best friends. And also he will prefer it if you refer to him as Kurama, not that moniker that was given to him," he snapped, peeved at Chiriku's words, despite the fact that he was in Chiriku's debt for helping to save his life.

Chiriku could only gape like a fish out of water. He couldn't believe the way Naruto snapped at him all because of a wrongly phrased question. And for some reason, he felt that even if Naruto knew he was the leader of the monks in the temple, Naruto wouldn't have cared.

"Gomen," he apologised, which alleviated the glare that Naruto was sending his way.

"It's ok, I just didn't like the way you said 'tame' as if Kurama were some wild animal," Naruto explained. "How long do I have to be here for Bansai-san?"

Bansai looked pointedly at Chiriku, who in turn gave a small nod, which Naruto caught.

"You can stay here for as long as you like Naruto-kun," Bansai said, catching Naruto slightly off guard with the new honorific. "However, if it's alright with you, we will like to teach you in our ways."

Naruto was caught even more off guard by the proposition. "How come? I mean, won't you hand me back to Konoha?"

Bansai let out a deep chuckle, amused by the boy's worries, hell even Chiriku grinned! Naruto was just confused by the reactions of the two and kept on switching his gaze between them.

"Now why would we do that?" Chiriku asked once Bansai had calmed down.

"Errm I don't know, maybe this is Hi no Tera, the _Fire_ temple, in Hi no Kuni, the Land of _Fire_, under the Hokage, the _Fire_ Shadow?" Naruto ranted as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Chiriku narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "Even though we are in Hi no Kuni, we are under no one's jurisdiction; even the Hokage has no control of anything that is outside Konohagakure no Sato. We abide under our own rules and we do not interfere with the happenings of the outside world."

Naruto blushed and looked away with a sheepish expression on his face. He never meant to insult Chiriku, but in a way he could say that they were now even. Naruto stifled a yawn.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, you don't need to make a decision now. Your body still needs rest so sleep on it and come to us when you're ready," Bansai said before Naruto's stomach gave a very audible growl. Naruto's blush became even deeper, which elicited a bout of laughter from the two men. "It seems you have to eat first though. I'll send some food for you, but in the meantime, rest and regain your strength."

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto was panting as he parried a blow with his staff. Chiriku went with the momentum, pivoting on his heel and brought up the rear end of his staff to deliver a blow to Naruto's temple. Naruto managed to notice the incoming attack and ducked. However, Chiriku's staff still managed to skim his hair.

Naruto bought his staff up in a vertical sweeping motion to hit Chiriku under his chin, but the older and more experienced man simply sidestepped the attack and delivered a bone crushing kick to Naruto's side.

Naruto flew the air towards the trunk of a Sakura tree. Taking notice of his would be destination and having no desire to undergo the same pain he felt when he fought with the snake about a year ago, Naruto stabbed his staff in the ground to halt his journey in the air.

He took in the sight of Chiriku gathering Senzoku no Sai **(Gift of the Hermit Group)** and settling into a stance.

He gave Naruto a look of approval and bent his knees slightly. "Raigō: Senjumettauchi." **(Welcoming Approach: Thousand Showers of Blows)**.

Like a coiled spring released, Chiriku shot towards Naruto and lashed out a barrage of thrusts with an end of his staff. Due to having being on the receiving end of the move before, Naruto braced himself. Despite that, the attacks were not set in a rigid pattern, they flowed and Naruto was still hard pressed to minimise the damage sustained.

The onslaught dragged on, keeping Naruto on his toes and he duly noted that the air seemed to be getting warmer. Naruto began to see streaks of orange at the edge of his vision which caused him to widen his eyes in apprehension.

Crap! he thought in panic. I need to get back!

It was not to be however as Chiriku stuck Naruto's kneecap, in which he felt a burning sensation. Naruto's guard faltered as his knee gave out, even for the briefest of seconds and Chiriku didn't let the opportunity go to waste.

Chiriku sent a jab with his now flame tipped staff at Naruto's shoulder. It dug into Naruto's white kimono shirt, charring it but not setting it alight.

Naruto hissed in pain, but did not let it prevent him from ducking a jab that was sent at his eyes. He parried a blow with one end of his staff and sent the other end towards Chiriku's abdomen. Chiriku had to cut off his attack prematurely to block the thrust. As he did so he felt a slight spike of chakra followed a blow of the wind.

He looked towards Naruto only to find out that he wasn't there anymore. It was only his instincts that allowed Chiriku to duck from a hit that would've either knocked him out or gave him a bad case of concussion.

He pivoted on his heel, bringing his staff round in a sweeping arc motion towards Naruto's midsection. The attack was met with a loud clap at it met with Naruto's vertical block.

Chiriku studied his opponent sweat-drenched face as he took deep, heaving breaths with a small sense of pride. Naruto had come really far in the past five months under his and Bansai's joint tutelage. He covered the physical aspects of the training while Bansai covered the more… academic aspects-if you could put it like that.

Chiriku remembered the fateful day that Naruto approached him to accept the training offer.

_**-Flashback-**_

"But why do want to train me?" Naruto pleaded.

Chiriku sighed for the umpteenth time in the last three minutes. Why didn't this boy learn to give himself some credit? He heard the rumours about the Yondaime's estranged son before his appearance outside the walls. But was his neglect so bad that he lost practically any self-esteem?

"Listen Naruto," he said in a calm tone that betrayed his current feelings. "I have a feeling that you're destined for great things that will affect this world in more ways than one. I want to be remembered as the person who trained you up to do great things."

"Besides," Bansai entered Chiriku's sleeping quarters. "Who'd want to miss out on the chance of training the revered Rinnegan?"

That sealed the deal for Naruto as he gave a small smile towards both men as gratitude was evident in his eyes. He gave a small bow.

"Arigatō Bansai-san, Chiriku-san."

_**-End flashback-**_

Chiriku gave a small grin at Naruto, signifying the end of the days spar. Naruto plopped down onto his bottom, his staff long forgotten dropped besides him. He titled his head towards the sky to aid the influx of oxygen into his burning lungs.

Chiriku was proud at the progress made so far. When they first began their Bojutsu lessons, Naruto took to it like a fish to water. He surpassed any expectations Chiriku had for him, which was high to begin with. Naruto could now hold his own against Chiriku as long as he didn't tire out. Due to his inhumane stamina levels, that didn't happen for a long, long while.

When Chiriku first used Senjumattauchi on Naruto, said boy managed to block three of the attacks, but the rest hit home. Now, Naruto's instinct, reflexes and experience aided him as he either evaded or block the thrusts. Chiriku had a sneaking suspicion that it may have something to do with his eyes-not that he didn't think the boy was capable of performing such movements without the Rinnegan's help.

The hypothesis was based on the legend that the Sharingan had evolved from the Rinnegan. If that was true, then surely the Rinnegan should be able to do what the Sharingan could and more?

Chiriku also mentally commended Naruto for seeing the climax of Senjumattauchi as soon as he did. Senjumattauchi was virtually Raigo: Senjusatsu **(Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder)** but using a staff instead of one's own hands. Not only that, but when the technique was nearing its end, the speed of the thrusts sets the tip of the staff alight due to the friction of the air, giving it a wave-like appearance. It was said that a man under the name of Might Guy possessed a similar attack.

"Well done Naruto," Chiriku said once Naruto had regained his breath. "I like how you managed to free yourself from my attacks. That was the correct course of action."

"Arigatō Chiriku-sensei," Naruto replied.

"You also did remarkably well considering you were not allowed to use any jutsu's."

"But I had to use chakra to enhance my speed in order to get behind you," Naruto protested.

Chiriku raised his palm up. "Give yourself some credit Naruto, most ninja would be unable to pull off what you did, let alone someone of your age. Going head to head and lasting the entire spar with a Bojutsu master is something people can only dream of doing."

Naruto bowed his head in shame. "Gomenkudasai **(Please forgive me)** Chiriku-sensei."

Chirku lowered his palm as he let out a hearty chuckle. "What's there to forgive Naruto? Just don't beat yourself up over everything. Nobody is perfect. Now get yourself washed up and go to Bansai-sama."

Naruto got up from the ground, his muscles rested and bounded towards the living quarters after a quick bow to his Bojutsu instructor. Chiriku picked up Naruto's training staff and raised his gaze to the skies.

_I hope you're watching, Haō-sama; your successor is on his way to accompllishing great things._

**X.x.X.x.X**

Naruto entered one of the many gardens of the temple, clean and refreshed for his next lesson. He wandered in the garden, appreciating its beauty. Man, these monks knew how to do their stuff! He hoped they could teach him too one day. He relaxed unconsciously; being in the midst of nature always seemed to put him at ease.

The soft murmurs of voices pointed him in the right direction. He left behind all the camellias, lotuses, carnations, roses and daffodils and entered a large clearing where Bansai was along with a younger monk in training that was around the same age as himself.

"Bansai-sensei! Sora!" he called as he jogged over to them.

Sora was in the middle of performing a set of handseals for a Fūton jutsu before he heard Naruto's call. He turned to wave at Naruto and gave a big grin.

Bansai studied the boy running towards them with an appreciative glint in his eye. Naruto had mesh armour with a white kimono shirt that was tied by a navy blue sash over that. He also wore navy blue pants that were tied at the ends with bandages. On his feet were blue sandals. But what stood out the most was the six ruby magatama stung across his neckline.

"Naruto!" Sora replied. "How you doing?"

Naruto, now with the group gave a grin of his own. "I'm good; me and Chiriku-sensei just finished our spar. What about you?"

"Well Bansai-sensei taught me a new jutsu! Wanna see?" Naruto nodded.

At his nod, Sora then turned his back to Naruto, now faceing a slashed up training dummy. He weaved through handsigns with practised precision as it molded his chakra.

"Fūton: Daitoppa! **(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)**"

A sudden gust of wind was created that hacked at the dummy mercilessly. The dummy lost an arm and a leg almost went with it.

Naruto whistled in appreciation as he surveyed the damage. "That was awesome Sora, seriously. Apart from Chiriku-sensei's Senjumettauchi, I haven't seen such a strong jutsu."

Sora beamed with pride at the compliment. It meant so much to him as Naruto was his only friend apart from Bansai and Chiriku. The other monks didn't like him because of things he had no control over, so he was lonely for a long time; that is, until Naruto showed up.

Turning to Bansai, Sora put on his most persuasive face. "Ne Bansai-sensei?"

"Yes Sora-kun?" Bansai asked, already knowing what was coming.

"You see, I put a bit too much in that last jutsu, so I was wondering, could I take a break?" Sora asked.

Bansai chuckled softly. "Of course you can Sora-kun. All you have to do is ask, instead of attempting to trick me."

Sora flinched as his ploy was unearthed. He gave an apologetic smile towards Bansai, coupled with a small bow. "Gomen Bansai-sensei."

Bansai waved his hands in protest. "It's ok Sora-kun, just try to be more believable next time."

His face flushed with embarrassment, Sora bounded out of the clearing. Naruto watched the boy go with a slight pang of weariness, which Bansai's all seeing eyes caught.

"Why don't you join him Naruto-kun, I can see that you're still worn out from your training session with Chiriku," he suggested.

Naruto perked up. "Really?" Following a nod from the man, Naruto adopted a blinding grin on his visage. "Arigatō Bansai-sensei!"

As Naruto began to run off, Bansai relayed some final instructions for the boy. "Just make sure you get some rest!"

X.x.X.x.X

Naruto lay on the roof of his current residence, arms behind his head as he gazed at the stars. As he did so, he wondered if Sarutobi-jisan was doing the same. At least they would still be connected that way.

Naruto began to remember his experiences in Konoha. He didn't harbour any grudge towards anybody for his treatment, however Bansai-sensei did explain why people acted like that towards him.

_**-Flashback-**_

"I can forgive them Bansai-sensei," Naruto began solemnly. "But I just can't help but wonder why people didn't bother to give me a chance."

Bansai gazed at the young boy before him. He definitely felt a connection to him in a grandfatherly sort of way. Even the other monks became more relaxed and lively when he was in the vicinity.

"What you have to remember Naruto-kun is that people fear what they cannot understand. It is in our nature to question everything until we can understand it," Bansai lectured. "The Yondaime said that you contain the Yin half of Kurama-kun's chakra correct?"

Naruto nodded affirmative. "Now as you know, Yin dark and evil are all associated with each other so human intuition will automatically assume you are evil. But what may eventually be our downfall is our reluctance to get to know the things that we fear. I believe that everything and everybody has a shred of goodness in them, no matter how evil they may seem.

"But you Naruto-kun, have the most good I have ever seen in a person. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'll be willing to bet my life that you contain the Yang half of Kurama-kun's chakra."

_**-End flashback-**_

Naruto let a weary sigh float into the crisp night wind. He had always wished to be treated as a normal person and he got what he wanted in the form of the monks in Hi no Tera. However, what he did not want was for someone else to take his place in that regard.

One of the main reasons why he forced himself to befriend Sora, other than the fact he was the same age as the boy, was that he knew what it was like to be shunned. Due to an incident in the past that Naruto was oblivious to the details, the monks treated Sora with the same disdain he was treated back in Konoha.

Naruto tried to convince himself that by hanging out with Sora, it may change the monk's view of the young boy, but he had no such luck. Now he could only hope that Sora could win their trust, and he will do anything to aid him.

Naruto hoped he could do the same with the Konoha populace.

_**Keh, feeling sentimental?**_

_Not really. I just wished things could've been different._

_**Don't dwell too much on the past Naruto. What's done is done. All we can do is hope for a better future. **_

Naruto allowed a smile to grace his features_. Yeah, when we return, we'll show Konoha that we're not monsters. We are both legacies of the Rikudō Sennin and we've inherited his will. Now we're gonna use that to become stronger and bring about peace and order._

_**Spoken like a true sage Naruto**_, Kurama chuckled.

Before Naruto could reply, he felt a small tug on his mind. He was about to ignore it, but it became stronger as if it were calling him. He was about to question Kurama, but the fox beat him to the cut.

_**I believe you should heed to the call. **_

No more words were spoken, not that it was needed. Naruto got up to his feet and took off in the direction the call was coming from. He was lead across the entire ground and out of the walls. As he went through the surrounding forest, the tug pointed him in the right direction when he lost his way.

Naruto continued to travel for another half an hour before he entered a prairie that encompassed all around. He searched the recesses of his mind for the tug but nothing answered him. He was about to return back to the temple, but a deep rumbling froze him in his actions.

A dark shadow cast an enormous eclipse over Naruto and the boy looked up, but couldn't make anything out due to the lack of light. The being swooped down towards Naruto, stopping about twenty meters away from him.

Naruto observed the being with fear and fascination. Before him stood a mighty dragon that looked every bit the word regal. The dragon stared impassively at Naruto with glowing red eyes and the boy knew that it was not someone he should get on the wrong side of.

_**Bahamut…**_ Kurmama whispered, but Naruto caught it.

"**Namikaze Naruto, it is time to receive the first portion of your inheritance,"** Bahamut said, unleashing his crimson wings.

**A/N:** I'm still willing to listen to any pairing requests.


	4. Chapter 4: Chikushōdō

**Chapter 4:** Chikushōdō

Naruto's eyes were locked with Bahamut's impassive gaze. It caused a feeling of dread to bloom in his being, the sort of feeling you get when you have a premonition that hell will break loose.

Bahamut stared into the Rinnegan, feeling a slight sense of nostalgia. The current scene reminded him of a similar stare-down that took place around a millennia ago, except this one will be beneficial for both parties.

"W-What do you want from me?" Naruto stuttered.

Bahamut withheld a smirk. Good, the boy feared him if the slight slip of the tongue was an indicator of anything.

"**I do not need to re-explain myself to you,"** Bahamut replied. **"Now brace yourself young Namikaze."**

Naruto watched Bahamut soar into the sky, positioning himself so that the moon was directly behind him.

"**Do not lose your composure. Take up a stance and do not falter. Stretch out you awareness. Most importantly, do not let your guard down for even one second,"** Bahamut instructed**. "For if you do…"**

Naruto had to blink and rub his eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving him. One minute Bahamut was right there, and the next he was gone. Nothing signified that he moved, not a gush of wind or its roar… nothing. But where did he g-

"**You will die!"**

Naruto managed to turn his head round, to a sight that would make any normal person go into cardiac arrest.

He managed to register the sight of Bahamut levitating above the ground, his visage as calm as he could be, and a single claw pointing towards Naruto. On its tip was a large sphere of concentrated chakra that cackled with electricity and gave a blinding white glow.

Before Naruto could take another breath, the white light enveloped his form.

**X.x.X.x.X**

At the end of the Third Shinobi War, it was thought that Konoha was the most powerful hidden village, boasting the likes of the Shinobi no Kami, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Densetsu no Sannin and Namikaze Minato, the newly dubbed Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō. Since Minato took up the position as Yondaime, it further cemented Konoha's spot. The news of him defeating the Kyūbi, creating not one, but two Jinchūriki-his children no less-made Minato a god in the eyes of others, even Ryōtenbin no Ōnoki.

It was because of this that the other villages made sure not to get on the wrong side of Konoha. Suna was especially grateful for their alliance with the village since one of the clauses was for them to aid each other in the state that the other was attacked.

As a result, the Konoha ninja populace could get drunk and have a good time, even if they were on duty. Why would they need to keep watch when their Hokage was the strongest ninja on the planet? Nobody in their right mind would risk sending spies to infiltrate the village when there was risk of them getting caught. Under the care of Morino Ibiki, they'll spill and then shit will hit the fan for their village.

While the active Konoha ninja enjoyed themselves, one Namikaze Kushina overlooked the proceedings from her spot on a balcony that connected to her and Minato's shared bedroom. Her arms rested on the railings, one of them propping up her head, giving her a bored appearance. The cool night breeze washed over her frame, blowing her long red hair and silk, blue nightgown.

Kushina gave a small sigh as her violet eyes watched a group of three ninja's-Chūnin by the look of thing-stumble out of one of the many bars, singing jovial tunes with slurred tones. Despite that, it still managed to come out well, far better than Tsunade's attempts while under the influence.

Feeling a pair of arms wrap around her waist, Kushina instinctively leaned back into the embrace of her husband, who in turn rested his chin on her shoulder. They stayed in that position for a few moments.

"Can't sleep?" Kushina nodded. "You wanna talk about it?"

Kushina closed her eyes. As soon as her eyelids shut, the images came back at full force. Her eyes snapped open and she took in deep breaths to calm her erratic heart rate.

Minato, despite his weary state, became alert, feeling the increased heart rate through her back and onto his chest. He was worried further as Kushina's shoulders began to shake and sobs began to escape from her lips. Minato turned Kushaina around, wrapping his arms round his sobbing wife's neck, hugging her tightly, ignoring the fact that she was soaking his bare chest.

That very moment, Minato made a silent vow that whoever was responsible for putting his wife in her current state will pay dearly.

But for now, he had to comfort he wife. He stroked her red locks, doing what he could to help her out.

Eventually, Kushina's tears stopped and she took deep calming breaths.

"Every time I close my eyes," she began, "I see him d-dead." Kushina's breath hitched and tears threatened to spill out once again.

Minato took an incentive and resumed comforting her as to prevent another bout of tears.

"Who do you see dead?" Minato asked once Kushina had calmed down. He browsed through all the names he could conjure in his mind. However, it was the least likely suspect who was responsible for Kushina's current predicament.

"N-Naruto," she gasped and conjured up every ounce of willpower to prevent a fresh batch of tears.

Minato was temporarily stunned. Naruto? Why would Kushina be worried about him of all people?

Before he questioned her on why she was worried for the boy, he remembered one vital piece of information.

Kushina spent most of her childhood being caught-up in war, meaning that she could lose her precious people in an instant.

There would be no farewells or reconciliations of the sorts. Once they died, that was it. It was because of this that family meant everything to her, no matter how much of a black sheep they were. The thought of her child dying-her only son no less-was enough to put her in a state of shock.

Minato let out an inaudible sigh. Hiruzen was fully aware of this, which is why he exploited this weakness in Kushina to make her feel guilty for her 'sins'.

He was truly worthy of the title 'the Professor'.

Unfortunately for Hiruzen-but fortunately for Minato-he had seen through this ploy, and now he will deal with it accordingly. After all, he wasn't hailed as a genius for nothing.

"Kushina, I'm sure Sarutobi-sama was merely playing mind games with you. He was just trying to make you feel guilty," said Minato.

As soon as his words left his mouth, Kushina jerked her head up and met his calm gaze with her own tearful but angry one.

"Then why is it that whenever I close my eyes, I see him dead? _Dead_ Minato! Our son is dead in my dreams!" Kushina responded, the volume of her words increasing as she spoke.

"Its human psyche Kushina," Minato said, continuing his ministrations on her hair. "Because Hiruzen's words made such an impact on you, your mind unconsciously acts on it and replays it in a visual way."

Kushina seemed to relax as she processed his words. Minato allowed a small smile to grace his features.

"B-But," she stammered with a hint of uncertainty, "why does it seem so… _real?_"

Minato hastily recalled all the conversations he had with Inoichi pertaining matters of the human mind. He remembered the subject of dreams being brought up as they discussed the possibilities of using dreams to plant the seed of trust into the subject so that they will reveal anything and everything on a whim.

"Because you entertained the idea for so long Kushina. Your mind became accustomed to the thought that Naruto was dead after being replayed over and over again, so it used that thought as an anchor to manifest your thought as dreams."

Minato watched Kushina's reaction carefully. He had to restrain himself from letting out a sigh once it looked like she calmed down. It wouldn't do for it to seem as if he had something to hide.

_Now for the icing on the cake._ "Besides, no child of ours will die without taking down a whole army with them," he finished with a small grin.

It did the trick as Kushina brightened up again. Using his thumb, Minato wiped away the tears from her face before giving her a heartfelt kiss, which she returned with equal fervour. Minato broke the kiss, flashing his wife another grin.

"Come to bed Shina-chan," he said, using her childhood nickname that only he was allowed to call her. "It won't do if we're worn out for tomorrow."

Kushina allowed Minato to lead her back to their room.

"Minato-kun?"

"Hm?"

"Arigatō."

**X.x.X.x.X**

Pain.

Burning, searing, unyielding pain.

It was all he could feel… no it would be more accurate to say it was all his body could register.

The smell of burning flesh assaulted his nose, causing him to breathe through his mouth. He opened his eyes slightly before snapping them shut due to the wave of nausea that washed over him. His equilibrium had not yet returned, so he had to wait.

He knew that if it weren't for him using a Shinra Tensei reflexively, he would be either missing a good portion of his body or would be dead all together. But despite that, the attack completely destroyed his hastily put up defence and put him in this state.

If he had to guess, he would say that the entire right side of his body was out of commission for the time being, coupled with a severe case of concussion.

Feeling an enormous displacement in the air, he knew that danger was coming. That psycho of a dragon will finish what he had started.

Ignoring his body's screams of protest, Naruto rolled onto his front, where he then proceeded to lift himself up, which needless to say, failed badly.

He so desperately wanted to heed the call of his being and just fall into blissful sleep.

But he didn't. He _couldn't_. If he fell asleep, no doubt the dragon will kill him and suck the marrow out of his bones.

He couldn't condemn Kurama to an eternity of nothingness, if that what the afterlife was. He just would not do that to the only person or being that understood him.

With a heart full of determination, Naruto renewed his efforts to get up. He had regained some measure of control over his left limbs so he once again began to push himself off the ground. He dragged up his legs to help with the process. His bare knee scraped along the rough ground, irritating an open wound even further.

Naruto almost faltered in his actions, but his determination blocked out his pain. He could feel Bahamut closing in on him at a lax pace. The dragon wasn't in a hurry to end it. He knew he could do so whenever he deemed fit.

Naruto felt insulted. This dragon didn't deem him as someone worth acknowledging. What kind of a loon would use an _inheritance_ as an excuse to kill an eight year old boy? At least use a more convenient excuse!

He found the strength to rise to his feet, wincing as his bare feet came into contact with some jagged rocks. His sandals were gone, along with most of the left side of his pants and part of the right side up to his knee. All that remained of his kimono top was tatters that he quickly discarded. He noted that his magatama necklace was relatively unharmed though.

He studied his current surroundings, noting that he was in the middle of a small crater-no doubt formed by his Shinra Tensei-that stood within a six foot deep trench. He spared a small glance to the night sky, taking in the sight of Bahamut circling overhead, like a vulture ready to strike at the first sign of weakness.

He limped his way towards the one of the edges of the trench, attempting to climb out but failed as the loose rocks crumbled under the applied pressure. His repeated attempts were all for naught as the rocks continued to give way.

"Come on!" he growled through gritted teeth as the frustration piled up within him. "Come on!"

He didn't need to look up to notice that Bahamut had run out of patience and began his slow but steady descent down on him-no doubt to deliver another of those beams of lightning.

Naruto's attempts at leaving the trench became increasingly desperate. Large gusts of crisp air battered his form due to the mighty heaves of Bahamuts wings, signifying the lack of distance between the pair.

"COME ON!" he yelled, tears of pain prickling at the edges of his rippled eyes. _Shit! What am I gonna do? This dragon will fuckin' eat me alive!_

He then remembered a vital piece of information that Kurama told him during a conversation.

_**-Flashback-**_

_**Your eyes, the Rinnegan have only been wielded by the Rikudō Sennin. I cannot tell you everything that they are capable of since I only have fragments of the Jūbi's memories. However, what I can tell you is that you have the ability to wield every single element and sub-elements, including Kekkei Genkai.**_

_**-End flashback-**_

_That's it! I have to somehow take control of this area and strengthen it._ Placing his palms flat upon the sides of the trench, he began to channel his chakra into the earth, concentrating fully on binding each chakra molecule with a grain of earth and letting the cohesive properties of chakra stick it together and strengthen it as a whole.

So absorbed in his task, it was only due to his heightened senses that picked up the rising electrical charge in the air that warned him on Bahamut's impending attack.

Bahamut watched impassively from his spot in the night sky as he sent out another concentrated blast of lightning chakra with the index claw of his left hand. The white blast shot towards Naruto, blocking his lithe frame from the dragon. The blast crashed down, blowing up a dust cloud, and his keen eye spotted a shadow leap out of the cloud.

Naruto panted as he backpedalled across the grassy plains._ That was too close, a second later and I would've been a goner!_ He levelled a glare towards the ever impassive Bahamut. "I don't know what your problem is, but Kami help me if I just sit back and allow you to keep on attacking me! Shinra Tensei!"

Bahamut allowed a small smirk to grace his features. _**Good, now we're getting somewhere**_, he thought as he flew out of range of the gravitational attack.

Naruto then took in a deep breath, puffing his chest out and moulding his chakra within him. _Thanks for the jutsu scrolls Hiruzen-jisan, I never knew it'll come in handy so soon. _With a mighty heave, he spewed out a hoard of roaring dragon-shaped flames towards the adversary.

_**Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Bullet), impressive… and to think he didn't use any handseals.**_ Bahamut swerved out of harm's way.

Naruto followed the dragon's movements closely, already preparing his next attack. Once again he took a lungful of breath, saturating it with fire chakra. This time, he unleashed a stream of intense flames that spread in the air as if it were napalm.

_Katon: Gōka Messhitsu! __**(Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction!).**_Naruto watched with no small amount of satisfaction as his attack enveloped the form of his target. He was about to prepare another attack before his instincts screamed at him to get out of the way.

He jumped to the left just as a barrage of wind slammed into his previously occupied spot. The edge of the attack skimmed his right foot, drawing blood for a small cut caused by the razor sharp attributes of the wind.

Naruto paid it no heed as he was gaping in shock at the sight of an unharmed, _unblemished_ Bahamut who was smirking at him. He didn't really expect his Katon jutsu to defeat the beast, but for it not to have even put a scratch? Now it was just getting ridiculous now; the move was A-rank for Kami's sake!

He gritted his teeth in frustration and clenched his fists so tight it drew blood. I've got to calm down; a difference in the state of mind of the commanders of opposing sides in a war can determine who the victor is. Now I need a plan…

Bahamut studied the boy before him, his calculative mind gleaming all he could just by studying his body language. He could tell by his stance, one that allowed the user to switch from offense to defence and vice versa in a short span of time.

He noted with a small sense of satisfaction that Naruto was somewhat versed in the ninja arts and was somewhat proficient in Senjutsu. The plan to use a Karyū Endan to either hit the target or force them to evade into a Gōka Messhitsu would have worked on many. However, when one has over a millennia's worth of battle experience, those sorts of strategies were nothing but child's play.

He watched Naruto once again take a deep breath and readied himself for what was to come.

Naruto exhaled a volley of miniature fireballs towards the airborne dragon, using about three quarters of the gathered chakra. He then dedicated the remaining quarter to a single, much larger fireball effectively performing a Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu **(Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Technique)** followed by a Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu **(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique).**

He then channelled chakra into the ground through his feet, the process made easier due to the fact he was barefooted. He used his chakra to split up the ground into small squares, each one about a foot in length and width, and three inches in depth. He pressurized each piece with his chakra, making them denser and stronger. Once he saw Bahamut had evaded all of his attacks, he moved on.

Each piece rose from the ground, a thousand in total, as if being pulled by some unseen force and then flew towards Bahamut without warning. He then readied himself for the next stage in his plan.

Bahamut slashed and hacked through the slabs of concrete whenever he didn't feel like dodging. He was slightly impressed with the boy, and if a dragon was remotely impressed with a human, that was a big accomplishment for said human. Now for a dragon of Bahamut's calibre to be slightly impressed… well that's saying something.

Bahamut withheld a chuckle, settling for a smile instead. Sometimes he thought he was becoming senile.

He glimpsed towards Naruto, only to find that the boy was no longer there, in his place was a slab of earth. A slab of earth that had just recently flown past him…

Bahamut immediately sensed a presence behind him, along with an unnatural amount of heat approaching him. He reflexively released a burst of lightning chakra from his body, negating the attack and zapping Naruto.

He spun round on his axis, unperturbed by the barrage of earth slabs bombarding his wings and back and watched Naruto's descent to the ground.

_**Now, show me that dormant power within you, prove to me you are worthy to call yourself Haō's successor!**_

Naruto, who had just managed to release a Shinra Tensei to reduce the damage, was now falling back down to earth. He knew that if he hit the ground at his current velocity, he would be paralysed at the very least. He had no jutsu's that will slow his descent, and he was all out of ideas… except one, but it was almost guaranteed to fail.

What he needed at the moment was a summon that could fly to protect him from harm. However, he didn't know the necessary handseals to d-

_**-Flashback-**_

"**Whenever you wish to call upon me, gather your wind and fire nature's into the palm of your hand and concentrate on either myself or any of my kin and I will be at your side immediately."**

_**-End flashback-**_

_Those flashbacks again? _He thought. _This is not the time! Why would I need to call up- shit that's it! It may not work and I'll definitely be a goner… but it's worth a shot…_

Manoeuvring his body in the air, he made it so that he was falling with his front facing the ground. He stuck out his right arm with his open palm facing the ground and his left hand gripping his wrist. Ignoring the wind lashing at his face, he poured all of his chakra into his hand, converting one part into wind chakra and the other into fire and shut his eyes as he concentrated on the first thing that came to mind.

A phoenix.

He also sent out a silent plea to whatever deity that was out there.

_Please_, he thought._ Kami-sama, I beg you… please make this work!_

Unknown to him, his plea awakened a deep seated ability available to the bearers of the Rinnegan.

Banbutsu Sōzō.

The highest form of Onmyōton was a substitute for a written agreement between Naruto and the Phoenix clan, enabling him to summon one of their kinds.

Naruto heard a loud poof and opened his eyes to the sight of lustrous red feathers that he fell face first in. He felt the displacement of gravity as the phoenix rose up into the air and into the skies along with a sense of vertigo.

He was stunned as his mind struggled to comprehend the feat he had just accomplished. Despite its frenzied state, one thought was free from the confusion.

"I did it," he whispered before he raised his voice. "I did it! YATTA!" He raised his arms in happiness as weariness caught up with him. His chakra reserves were alarmingly low and his injuries only began healing now. His mind had begun to shut down along with his body as he entered blissful unconsciousness. "Yatta…" he whispered.

Before he blacked out completely, he heard the voice of Kurama resonate through their mental link.

_**Well done Naruto, now you may rest.**_

Bahamut's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the summon but he quickly regained his composure. He landed on the prairie, folding his wings and the phoenix did the same. He and the phoenix engaged in a staring contest before he broke the silence.

"**It has been a while Himoto."**

"**Indeed it has,"** Himoto replied in a courteous tone. **"How long has it been? Nine hundred and thirty years, has it not?"**

Bahamut chuckled. **"Only you are so immaculate that you'll count the days as they go by. How goes your clan? I trust they are well?"**

"**Yes, they are. The years have been good to us," **Himoto said. **"And your travels?"**

Bahamut adopted a pensive look. **"The inhabitants of lands beyond these nations are… different. The teachings of our master have yet to reach them, so they are still in the dark ages."**

"**I see. Who knows, maybe this child might be the one to lead them into the light."** Bahamut nodded in agreement. **"I take it that he passed the test seeing as he successfully summoned me."**

"**Certainly, he has added the Animal path to his knowledge of the Deva path. The child has a vast amount of potential as I'm sure you've noticed, seeing as he summoned you on his first try. In addition to the paths, the child knows a fair amount of elemental Ninjutsu. His strategic skills are worth taking notice of."**

"**Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you've taken a liking to the little one."** Bahamut sputtered in a very un-dragonlike manner, to which Himoto smirked. **"But then it's only natural since he is now our master, just like Haō-kun was. I can only hope that Kirin would not attempt to corrupt him."**

Bahamut regain his composure at the mention of their wayward teammate.** "Indeed, it will be a shame if young Namikaze began to show a blatant disregard to the rights of the female species. How is Gamachiryo?"** Bahamut asked, his mind going to the final member of their foursome.

"**From what I can gleam from our correspondences, he hasn't fully recovered from the curse placed on him by that creature. While he is much better, he is losing his youth slowly but surely."** The pair shared an amicable silence as they sympathised for their friend.

"**How are you coping Bahamut?"** Himoto asked with a tone laced with concern. **"The loss of your cl-"**

Anger flashed in the dragon's eyes. **"I thought we agreed **_**never**_** to speak of that incident again?"** he snapped.

"**But you can't do it alone!"** Himoto protested. **"Even Haō-kun needed the support of others after the death of his wife!" **

Bahamut gave a dry chuckle. **"Well I guess that's the difference between dragons and other races. We do not need the help or pity of others when it comes to certain matters."**

"**Bu-"**

"**Please, just leave it ok?"** Bahamut said with a voice that conveyed his ancient age. **"I have neither the desire nor patience to reopen old wounds. Dawn is rapidly approaching, so I believe it would be wise to return young Namikaze to his abode."**

With one last lingering look, Himoto relented. **"I will heed your request. I hope for all of us summons to meet together soon. It would be wise for us to become better acquainted with the little one."**

"**It shall be done Himoto,"** Bahamut said with a small inclination of his head.

"**It was nice meeting you again my friend."**

"**And the same to you."**

With a small dip of her head, Himoto took to the skies, heading in the direction of Hi no Tera.

Bahamut watched her leave, waiting until she was out of sight before allowing a small smile to appear on his features. It had always been in her nature to ensure the wellbeing of the rest of their group, along with Haō's. He had no doubt's that she will do the same for the young Namikaze.

Now all that was left was for Kurama to explain the situation to the child so that they may begin his training as soon as possible. If this ominous feeling he was currently feeling was anything to go by, then time was of the essence.

**X.x.X.x.X**

_His lungs heaved with effort to take in fresh new batches of much needed oxygen, providing the means to pay off the debt that had been accumulated and breaking down the lactic acid into carbon dioxide and water._

_Blood trickled down his right temple from underneath his matted hair, mixing with the sweat that covered his face. His right arm rested limply at his side, the bones being broken in various places. His left arm was occupied clutching his stomach to prevent his guts from spilling out._

_Some many yards away lay his broken sword, accompanied by his shakujō, out of reach for a last ditch attempt at victory._

_He examined his opponent who was in no better shape, a remarkable feat for a human since his opponent was a dragon. _

_The dragon-Bahamut-had several broken scales including others that were either about to fall off or gone completely. One of his wings had a gaping hole, courtesy of a chakra blast through the Asura path, and the other was peppered with smaller holes. All in all, Bahamut won't be flying any time soon._

_He could see a bone jutting out of Bahamut's left thigh, thus the reason why most of his weight was resting on his right leg. Both of Bahamut's arms hung limply at his sides and both caked in blood. Bahamut's whole being was swaying back and forth with the wind._

"_It seems that we both can't go on," he said smirking at the towering dragon._

"_**Indeed it does,"**__ Bahamut replied._

"_That's a real shame," he said, darkness clawing at the edges of his vision. "Because, I failed my promise… to gain your respect…"_

_Bahamut watched as the man collapsed onto the broken ground as he lost consciousness._

"_**What are you talking about baka? You won… Haō."**_

_Bahamut joined Haō on the floor as the last his strength faded away, sending him into blissful sleep._

**X.x.X.x.X**

Rivers of blood flowed through the streets of Konoha. Mangled corpses were left at every sidewalks and corners of the streets. The stench of rotting flesh permeated the air with the smoke of burning buildings. The atmosphere was silent, save for the sound of buildings collapsing.

Natsumi stumbled across the roads, her breaths ragged due to the lack of oxygen in the air.

"TOU-SAN! KAA-SAN!" She called. Seeing as there was no reply, she ran towards the Namikaze compound. "JIRAIYA-JISAN! TSUNADE-BAACHAN!"

She passed several landmarks that were set ablaze such as the Academy, the Hokage residence and the hospital. The continuous sight of decaying bodies shook her to her very core and she struggled to keep herself from throwing up.

She arrived at the gates of the family compound and ran straight through. She stopped at the door leading into the lounge, hearing a scream eliciting from the other side before it was swiftly silenced. She also heard a roar before she slid the door open.

Natsumi saw her father being kicked at his abdomen into the wall by an unknown assailant who's features were obscured by the shade. Blood oozed down his lips and matted his foreheads. She noticed the unmoving form of her mother at the bottom of the opposite wall. She took a step into the room, the creaking floorboards alerting the occupants of the room to her presence.

"NATSUMI-CHAN!" Minato gasped with pure desperation. "RUN! GET OUT OF HERE BE-" the assailant clamped their hand down on Minato's mouth, hereby stopping the flow of words.

"I said shut up!" the person said.

Natsumi watched with barely veiled horror as she watched the bloodstained sword of the attacker plunge into her father's chest, piercing the heart and killing him instantly. She dropped to her knees in shock, unable to tear her eyes from Minato's lifeless orbs.

"Hmph pathetic, just like the rest of them." The words of murderer barely registered in Natsumi's mind. "Now for you, my dear sister."

Hearing the word 'sister' gave Natsumi the strength needed to tear her gaze away from her father and place it onto the bloodstained form of her elder brother. He was garbed in the ANBU uniform and his hair-now entirely silver-had red stains. His eyes, normally rippled purplish-grey was now crimson with slit irises. On his face was a malicious smirk that shook Natsumi to her core.

Natsumi tried to crawl away, out of the room but the door slid shut barring her exit.

"Nu-uh." Naruto said. "You are not going anywhere Imouto." He stopped in front of her down form and sat on his haunches. "My my, your becoming as beautiful as Kaa-san. It's a shame really. In a few years, I'm sure you'd have surpassed her in that department."

Natsumi's eyes widened as tears streamed down on her face. "P-Please Onii-san! Please don't do this!"

Naruto's smirk became devilish, sending a shiver of fear down Natsumi's spine. "And why shouldn't I? You people never loved me, hell you could barely stand the thought of me!"

"Then why did you do this then!" She asked.

Naruto rose to his full height and flicked the blood off his katana. Outside, the skies had turned red and red light streamed into the room. The horn-like protrusions in his hair and red eyes accompanied with the red backdrop made him look like the devil himself

"I did this to measure my capacity."

He raised his sword and swiftly brought it down and Natsumi blacked out.

Natsumi swiftly opened her eyes, but the sight that greeted her was not what she expected.

Somehow, she had ended up in a large sewer like room with water that was in place of the floor. In front of her was a giant cage that was held shut by a paper seal.

Before she could dwell on her surroundings, the memories of her nightmares hit her at full force, bringing forth a fresh batch of tears. She wailed into her palms and the sound of her sobs filled the air.

"Natsumi-chan?" A voice that was reminiscent of her mother's called out to her. "What's wrong Natsumi-chan?"

Natsumi's head jerked up. Standing in between of two of the many bars of the cage was a woman in her mid-twenties with long red hair and a white kimono.

"Kaa-san?" Natsumi asked.

The woman shook her head. "No, my name is Kurama. You may know me better as the Kyūbi no Kitsune." Seeing the look of fear crossing on the girl's face, Kurama quickly intervened. "But I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help y-" Kurama was cut off by the abrupt force of the girl slamming into her and grabbing onto her like her life depended on it. Her tears soaked the elaborate kimono and Kurama slowly stroked Natsumi's hair.

"Shh, it's ok little one," Kurama said. "It's ok." After a while, her tears had reduced. "So so you want to tell me what's wrong?"

Natsumi recounted her dream to Kurama, her tears threatening to return when she began to describe the death of her parents.

"Well, you do you know what this means?" Natsumi shook her head. "It means you need to get stronger. Much stronger than your brother would ever be."

Natsumi took a step back. "But how can I do that? He's already way stronger than I am?"

"Then I will help you," Kurama said, before adding, "that is if you'll have me."

"I do!" Natsumi exclaimed.

"Then there you go! I'll help you become much stronger than anybody has ever been," Kurama replied with a smile.

"Arigatō Kurama-san." Natsumi wrapped Kurama in another hug and buried her face in her midriff.

Kurama smirked maliciously at the redhead.

_**No, thank **__**you**__** Natsumi, now I can mould you for my uses!**_


	5. Author's note

**Author's note:**

For those of you who have followed and reviewed this story, I want to thank you. However, it is time for this journey to come to an end, as I have decided to rewrite Twilight Chronicle's. There will be many changes that you'll notice especially in the character's personalities. I tried to rescue this fic, believe me I tried, but it was too far gone for rescuing, hence I am rewriting it.

I am so sorry to disappoint you guys, but I believe it is the right move.

**-FS4TW **


	6. Well

Well… never in my wildest dreams did I think I would actually be writing this.

First of all I want to thank all of you who have taken time to read my work along with follow/favourite/review it, you don't know how much it meant to me.

I want to start by saying 2014 has been a very turbulent year for me, I lost all my work that I had written for my stories meaning I had to start from scratch in terms of plans and whatnot which is a big motivation killer. I also had to deal with health problem including being hospitalised during my exam period which really fucked me up, luckily I still got the grades but I feel I could've done much better. And the motivation hasn't _really_ been there, I can write the plans but when it comes to the chapters… it's just not clicking you know?

Before I continue, let me give you a brief history.

I first found this site on a day back in summer 2011 after searching high and low for some good NaruSaku material and I saw this on the Heaven and Earth forum. I read a couple of fics and boom I was hooked to . I just want to make a special mention to Denim88, because even if he does not know, it was his fics that inspired me to write to begin with.

Now, I have been following Naruto since around 2004 or so, and as such it has been a major part of my life. When I found out it was ending, I was rather sad, yeah it was gonna end at some point but like with all the things we love, we'd rather it ends later rather than sooner. Then the movie announcement came up and I was excited. Naturally.

Then the extended trailer came out… along with the movie soundtrack cover… and the scans of Naruto's kids with Hinata.

For a devout NaruSaku fan as I, I simply couldn't believe it.

Call it what you will, be it bitterness or throwing my toys out of the pram, I'm rather livid at the moment.

The whole NaruHina relationship is a joke. Simple. Even Naruto x Movie girls has more development than NaruHina and that's a fact. What, Hinata says she loves Naruto and they held hands and bam its canon?! That's a joke.

Kishimoto has been hinting at NaruSaku the whole time no matter what others may say. You cannot deny that. All the parallels with MinaKushi and JirTsu, all the foreshadowing and then he goes and pulls this out of his ass… just wow. Even non-NaruSaku/NaruHina pairings were saying it's a joke with how they just get together out of nowhere.

Yeah Sakura reaffirmed her love for Sasuke on chapter 69whatever, but it has been shown she does harbour some romantic feelings for Naruto. What happened to that?

And while we're talking about feelings, yes Hinata confessed her love for Naruto, but when has he ever shown any romantic interest at her? And I'm talking about canon as in MANGAVERSE not anime canon that NaruHina fans like to quote like it's some bible scripture or something.

I've seen people talking about how DB/DBZ was Kishi's inspiration and Goku ended up with Chi Chi over Bulma and so it's only right Naruto picks Hinata over Sakura. Well, I don't recall Goku ever being attracted to Bulma or vice versa. And besides, Toriyama didn't put as much romance as Kishi put into his manga, Toriyama made it about having the desire to protect and the love for fighting, being the strongest under the heavens. Kishi did have the desire to protect as a main theme, but by God romance was a huge part of the Naruto manga.

As I stated earlier, it was NaruSaku that led me to write in the first place and now that hasn't happened I don't think I'm gonna continue any more. Which is a very sad thing for me, because despite by unreal laziness to write, I had some good fics planned out and had whole chapters written for them, along with chapters for my existing fics. Twilight Chronicles was to be my masterpiece, as shit as it looks right now, and for the record, it was going to be a NaruSāra fic.

I'm very sorry, but the desire is gone, and I can't allow anyone to adopt any of my work.

Before I round up I just want to add one more thing.

About a year ago, give or take a few weeks, I read an amazing manga called Bakuman (seriously check it out). It's about two kids who want to make manga, one is the writer, the other is the artist and their dynamic is a thing of beauty. It gave me a new respect for manga artists as a whole because not many respect what they actually go through in order to do their thing. Anyway, one part of the manga that really stuck to me was a conversation between Mashiro and Takagi as they were rounding up their masterpiece manga Reversi. One of them said "it is the ending of the manga that decides whether it will be remembered as a success or a failure."

I'm sorry to say Kishimoto, when you deus ex machina a pairing to work as the final note of the series as a way of 'connecting to the next generation' I cannot for the life of me consider the series to be a success. I'm very sad because it feels like a piece of me has been destroyed. But hey, it's your series, do what you will, we're only the fans right? Naruto made a big issue about never giving up and all that, but he sure gave up on his heart.

One of the reasons why I loved the Naruto series so much was because out of all the manga I've read, Naruto was the only one I could relate to the easiest.

Well, not anymore.

Maybe I will write again, but as it stands, the only activity I'll be conducting on this site is reading.

Goodbye.

Deus Namikaze.


End file.
